Govt orders airlines to share weather data with IMD

With new airports coming up, IMD could have access to data from a wider geographical region

- PTI [e-mail] NEW DELHI

The government is planning to make it mandatory for domestic airlines to share weather data captured by aircraft during takeoffs and landings with the weather office, which could lead to significantly better forecasts.

Currently, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) launches weather balloons from 50-60 stations to collect critical data on temperature, humidity and wind speed at various altitudes, which form crucial inputs for weather forecasting models.

These inputs could increase exponentially as the country records more than 6,000 takeoffs and landings by domestic airlines at various airports every day.