National Monsoon Mission
Also called: NMM · Topic: Climate of India and the Monsoon · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 3 "Atmosphere and Climate"
Meaning
The National Monsoon Mission is a programme of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). It was launched in 2012 and is led by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. It built a coupled ocean-atmosphere model, a computer model in which the ocean and the air affect each other, as they do in nature. The model forecasts at all time scales, from the next few days to a whole monsoon season. This matters because India's farms, water supply and food prices depend on knowing the rain in advance.
Example
At IITM Pune in Maharashtra, scientists developed and ran these coupled models. Their work helps the IMD's seasonal monsoon forecasts, which have used dynamical models since 2021.
Don't confuse with
- Mission Mausam: a newer programme approved in September 2024 (about ₹2,000 crore). Its aim is a "Weather Ready, Climate Smart" India. The Monsoon Mission focused on monsoon forecasting models.
Related concepts
- Monsoon and the Indian economy
- Monsoon failure
- Monsoon forecasting by IMD
- Long Period Average of monsoon rainfall
- IMD monsoon rainfall categories