The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is joining forces with meteorological agencies from China, Pakistan, and other countries to offer climate forecast services in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has recommended setting up regional climate centres in Islamabad, Delhi, and Beijing that would offer a range of services from forecasting to training.
Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) Region
Covering Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the HKH region stretches across about 5 million square kilometres and supports a vast and culturally varied population. Renowned as the Third Pole following North and South Poles, the HKH region plays a critical role in the global climate due to its large cryospheric zones. It is also globally significant as it holds the world’s largest store of snow and ice outside the polar region.
Per the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the HKH region faces severe threats from global warming. With the escalation in extreme precipitation events, floods may become more frequent and intense in the mountainous and downstream regions of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra river basins. The report expresses grave concern predicting that the severity of floods may more than double by the end of the century.
India Meteorological Department
The IMD is the primary agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India. Its responsibilities are diverse and include meteorological observations, weather forecasting, and seismology. With its headquarters in Delhi, the IMD operates numerous observation stations across India and Antarctica. As one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres of the WMO, it forecasts, names, and issues warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region, which encompasses the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf.
| Department | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| India Meteorological Department | Meteorological observations, weather forecasting, seismology. |
| World Meteorological Organization | Meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. |
World Meteorological Organization
The WMO is an intergovernmental organization boasting a membership of 193 Member States and Territories. Following the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became a specialized agency of the United Nations dealing with meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology, and related geophysical sciences. The headquarters of this global organization is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
