New Delhi. The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has proposed National Mission on Monsoon to develop most representative and advanced dynamic model framework for India for forecasting monsoon rainfall and its variability in various space and time scales.

This was stated by Shri Prithviraj Chavan, the Minister of State (I/C) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences in the Rajya Sabha today.He said that on 16th January 2010, National level consultation meeting was organized with experts working in the atmospheric and oceanic modeling. Experts from the Ministry of Earth Sciences units, viz. India Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) etc., also participated in the meeting to finalize the scope, identification/shortlisting of suite of models, activity schedule, roles of various participating groups, time frame, etc. for the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) alongwith implementation mechanism.

The accomplishment of accurate medium and long range prediction of the monsoon rainfall along with associated variability (interannual and intraseasonal) is a highly challenging task scientifically. At present no dynamic model, globally, has a proven track record of accurately predicting the summer monsoon rainfall and its variability. The National Mission on Monsoon envisages developing India specific dynamical model framework that would outperform the existing suite of models available today.