Mission Mausam

Topic: Atmosphere: Composition, Structure and Elements of Weather · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 3 "Atmosphere and Climate"

Meaning

Mission Mausam is a mission of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). The Union Cabinet approved it on 11 September 2024 [5], with Rs 2,000 crore for two years [3]. Its aim is to make India "Weather-ready and Climate-smart" [3]. It does this through more weather radars and observations, sharper computer models and forecasts, AI-based tools, and research on changing the weather on purpose.

It matters because climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and harder to predict. India's models worked at 12 km until Mission Mausam [3]. That is too coarse to catch small, sudden events like cloudbursts. The mission aims to give forecasts down to the village-council (Panchayat) level.

Explanation

Why the mission was needed (cause → problem → response)

• Climate change makes the weather more extreme.
• A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour.
• So very heavy rain falls in a short time over one small place, while a nearby place stays dry.

• Flood and drought can happen at the same time.

• Some events are still poorly understood. Cloudbursts, intense thunderstorms, lightning and squalls (sudden, strong bursts of wind) are the least understood weather events over India [3].

• Models were too coarse. Resolution is the size of one grid box in a weather model. Smaller boxes show smaller storms. India's NWP (numerical weather prediction: computer forecasts made with physics equations) models worked at 12 km until Mission Mausam [3].
• Response: Mission Mausam was approved in September 2024 [5] and launched on 14 January 2025, IMD's 150th Foundation Day [2].

Its parts: observe → model → deliver

1. More observations (the mission's targets) [3]:

• 50 DWRs: Doppler weather radars, which bounce radio waves off raindrops to show where rain is falling and how fast the wind is moving it
• 60 radiosonde/radiowind stations: a radiosonde is an instrument box carried up by a balloon that measures the air at different heights
• 100 disdrometers: instruments that measure the size of raindrops
• 10 wind profilers: radars that measure wind at many heights
• 25 radiometers
• 10 marine AWS (automatic weather stations at sea) with upper-air observation
• one urban test site, one process test site and one ocean research station

2. Better models and tools [3]:

• AI/ML tools (AI = artificial intelligence; ML = machine learning) to improve forecasts
• Data assimilation: feeding fresh observations into a model so it starts from the true state of the air

3. Getting forecasts to people [3]:

• A GIS-based Decision Support System (GIS: a map-based computer system) sends forecasts to the last user, such as a farmer or fisherman.

Weather modification research [3]

• Cloud seeding:
• Small particles such as silver iodide or salt are sprayed into clouds.
• Water vapour condenses on them, so the droplets grow.

• Heavier drops fall as rain.

• Planned work:

• rain-enhancement trials
• seeding by drones and ground burners
• the first phase of a cloud chamber (a lab that makes clouds)

• aircraft for seeding, with the IAF

• Other aims: fog dispersal (clearing fog) and hail suppression (stopping hail).

Phases, implementers and expected results

• Phases [3]:
• Phase I: 2024–26

• Phase II: 2026–31, in the next financial cycle

• Who does what [3]:

• IMD: observations, services and getting forecasts to users
• IITM: field campaigns, test sites and modelling

• NCMRWF: data assimilation and weather prediction

• Expected outcomes [3]:

• nowcasts (forecasts for the next few hours) every 1 hour instead of every 3 hours
• short- and medium-range accuracy up by about 5–10%
• forecasts down to Panchayat level (5–6 km)
• "no weather system will go undetected"

Where it occurs

• Where it operates: all of India, including its seas and coasts. The marine AWS and the ocean research station extend observations over the ocean [3].
• Who runs it: the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), through three bodies [3]:
• IMD, headquartered at Mausam Bhawan, New Delhi
• IITM, Pune (Maharashtra)

• NCMRWF, Noida (Uttar Pradesh)

• Year: approved 2024 [5]; launched 14 January 2025 at IMD's 150th Foundation Day [2].

• Where better forecasts matter most:
• Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea: tropical cyclones. RSMC New Delhi leads cyclone warnings here for the WMO.
• Coastal states that clear their coasts before cyclones: Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
• North-west and central India: heat waves.

• Oceans and the Himalaya: places where observations are still few.

• Linked model: the Bharat Forecast System, built by IITM Pune, runs at about 6 km [4]. It works alongside the mission's Panchayat-level goal.

Don't confuse with

• National Monsoon Mission (2012): built physics-based dynamical models for the monsoon only. Mission Mausam (2024) covers all weather, and adds observations, AI/ML and weather modification.
• Bharat Forecast System (BharatFS): a global weather model (about 6 km, TCo grid) built by IITM Pune [4]. It is a forecasting tool, not a funded mission with radar and cloud-seeding targets.
• IMD (India Meteorological Department): the national weather service, founded in 1875. It is one of three bodies that implement Mission Mausam, along with IITM and NCMRWF. It is not the mission itself.
• IMD Vision-2047: a vision document released on IMD's 150th Foundation Day [2]. Mission Mausam is the funded mission launched on the same day.

Prelims Hooks

• Mission Mausam: Union Cabinet approval on 11 September 2024 [5]; Rs 2,000 crore for two years [3]; launched 14 January 2025 (IMD's 150th Foundation Day) [2].
• Parent ministry: MoES. Implementers: IMD (observations and services), IITM Pune (field campaigns, test sites, modelling), NCMRWF Noida (data assimilation and prediction) [3].
• Targets: 50 DWRs, 60 radiosonde/radiowind stations, 100 disdrometers, 10 wind profilers, 25 radiometers, 10 marine AWS [3]. Trap: disdrometer = raindrop size; wind profiler = wind at many heights.
• Phases: Phase I 2024–26; Phase II 2026–31 [3].
• Expected outcomes: nowcast every 1 hour (was 3 hours); forecasts at Panchayat level (5–6 km); accuracy up about 5–10% [3].
• Weather modification under the mission: cloud seeding (silver iodide or salt), fog dispersal and hail suppression [3]. Trap: "weather modification is outside the mission's scope" is wrong.

Mains Points

• Disaster risk reduction (GS-III):
• More radars and finer models give longer warning time, so people can be evacuated and ports closed in time.
• Cyclone deaths fell from about 10,000 (1999) to zero (2020–24) [2]. Mission Mausam aims to extend this success to cloudbursts, lightning and squalls [3].

• This supports early warning for all under the Sendai Framework.

• Adapting to climate change:

• Extreme rain and local droughts are becoming more common.
• So India is moving from broad regional forecasts to hourly nowcasts, Panchayat-level (5–6 km) forecasts and a GIS-based system that reaches the last user [3].

• This helps farm advisories, heat-action plans in north-west India, aviation, and solar and wind power planning.

• Problems that remain:

• Observations over the oceans and the Himalaya are still few.
• Forecasts must reach fishermen and farmers in their own language.
• Cloud seeding raises open questions: does it work, what does it cost, and is it ethical?
• Phase II (2026–31) and BharatFS are India's planned answer to these gaps [3][4].

Related concepts

• India Meteorological Department
• Weather forecasting
• IMD colour-coded weather warnings
• Bharat Forecast System

Read more

• Forecasting the weather: the IMD and India's forecasting system