Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) radar for Navy, CIAL

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Now, Cusat radar for Navy, CIAL - The Hindu

Updated: September 3, 2015 05:39 IST

Soon, a state-of-the-art radar facility at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) will help Indian Navy gather vital information on weather conditions while carrying out helicopter operations and training for its personnel.

The varsity’s Stratosphere Troposphere (ST) Radar, which is expected to become fully operational by January, is expected to play a key role in forecasting severe weather conditions.

Scientists at Cusat held preliminary discussions with the officials of the Southern Naval Command here ahead of forging a mutually beneficial partnership while utilising the benefits of the Rs.20-crore facility on the varsity’s Thrikkakara campus.

“Besides Navy, we have also apprised the officials at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) at Nedumbassery about the new facility. Continuous information available from ST Radar is highly useful to understand the cloud formation, changes in the atmospheric circulation pattern, thunderstorm development and air turbulence,” said K. Mohankumar, Director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research.

Vice Chancellor J. Letha said the radar facility would also issue weather bulletins to the public from November 1 onwards. “It will be available on the websites of the varsity and the centre on a weekly basis,” she said.

Funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the radar facility will operate at 205 MHz frequency range. “It’s quite unique, highly reliable and economic.

The basic design, development, testing, installation were done in the country. We have successfully tested the prototype radar with 49 antenna array element and its now working in experimental mode. The main ST Radar with 619 Antenna array system is at the installation stage,” Dr. Mohankumar said.

 

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The indigenously-developed Stratosphere-Troposphere radar at the Cochin University of Science and Technology.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...re-to-study-monsoon-onset/article18478588.ece

₹20-crore Stratosphere Troposphere Radar on the campus will be used for the purpose

The Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at the Cochin University of Science and Technology has launched a study on the onset of monsoon over Kerala in association with the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.

The collaboration assumes significance at a time when the ₹20-crore Stratosphere Troposphere (ST) Radar owned by the centre has turned fully operational and ready to take up various research programmes on climate change. “The changes in the various dynamical and local moisture parameters ahead of the monsoon season are being assessed as part of the ongoing study. The monsoon circulation pattern has been established. It has to now strengthen before the onset of the monsoon,” said K. Mohankumar, director of the centre.

Researchers at the centre are studying the strength and vertical extent of the lower tropospheric zonal wind before the onset of the monsoon. Dr. Mohankumar said that instruments had been brought from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology to measure the temperature and local moisture parameters.

“The study will continue even after the onset of the monsoon over Kerala. The behaviour and the nature of the monsoon will be part of the research. The strength and intensity of the rainfall will be assessed for one month after the onset of the monsoon,” he said.

The Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research will disseminate the information on the monsoon to the public as part of its weekly weather updates. The data collected from the ongoing study will be used in the preparation of research papers. Scientific interpretations will also be made as part of tracking the monsoon onset over Kerala. Meanwhile, the centre is all set to showcase the indigenously-developed Stratosphere-Troposphere Radar under the Centre’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.

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Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) to install Stratosphere Troposphere Wind Profiler Radar (ST Radar) to study horizontal and vertical circulation pattern, interaction and coupling of the lower, middle and upper levels in the troposphere as well as the radiatively sensitive stratosphere.

• The stratosphere is the transition region, which interacts with the weather systems in the dense lower atmosphere and the richly ionized thin upper atmosphere.
• The decrease in stratospheric ozone and increase in the tropospheric ozone is a major concern in studies on climate change and variability.
• The study of stratosphere troposphere interactions is significantly important to understand the climate variability.
• Stratospheric changes can affect the climate in a quite complex way through radiative and dynamical interactions with the troposphere.
• There is also the possibility that changes in ozone could lead to changes in the stratospheric distribution of wind and temperature and thus affect the dynamical interactions between the troposphere and stratosphere.
  
  
  

Stratosphere-Troposphere (ST) Radar is the most powerful and versatile wind- profiling instrument. The traditional method of measuring the wind is to track the movement of a radiosonde – an instrumented, helium-filled, meteorological balloon – as it rises up through the atmosphere. However, radiosondes are rarely launched at intervals of less than 6 hours and so can only be used to provide information about the large-scale weather patterns.

By contrast, the ST radar is operated on a continuous basis and provides measurements of the wind every few minutes. The data consequently provides unique opportunities for atmospheric research. Its major advantages over other conventional observational methods are:

 

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The Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan lighting the lamp at the dedication ceremony of the Stratosphere-Troposphere (ST) Radar Facility to the nation at Cochin University of Science and Technology(CUSAT), in Kerala on July 11, 2017.

The Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan dedicating the Stratosphere-Troposphere (ST) Radar Facility to the nation at Cochin University of Science and Technology(CUSAT), in Kerala on July 11, 2017.

The Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan addressing at the dedication ceremony of the Stratosphere-Troposphere (ST) Radar Facility to the nation at Cochin University of Science and Technology(CUSAT), in Kerala on July 11, 2017.