NEW DELHI: If you want to go on a pilgrimage to ‘Char Dham’ or ‘Amarnath’, you may like to plan your ‘yatra’ after a quick look at the national weather forecaster’s newly launched online forecasts of extreme weather events during your journey.

The ministry of earth sciences (MoES) on the occasion of its foundation day on Friday launched such an app and online weather forecast facilities to help religious pilgrims. The web-based alerts are, however, not be limited for ‘yatras’ alone. A similar system was launched for Mumbai - the city which invariably faces the wrath of extreme weather events, mainly during the monsoon.

"Besides, the ministry is also working on devising an air pollution emergency prediction system which should be ready for launch in Delhi by October. Other million plus cities, mainly in north India, will be covered in due course after testing the system here," said MoES secretary, Madhavan Rajeevan.

The ministry in association with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been working on ‘push SMS alerts’ system for mobile phone users. Under this programme, all mobile phone users - whether their numbers are registered or not - will get alerts on extreme weather events like heavy rains, heat wave, cyclone and thunderstorm.

The NDMA is working with the department of telecommunication for providing this service to people across the country so that users can get alerts through SMS. They will also be advised on precautionary measures ahead of such weather events. Technology for this has already been validated in Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh .

The special mobile application for Mumbai, Mumbai Weather Live, will initially be available to users on Android phones. Forecasts for religious pilgrims of ‘Char Dham’ - Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath - in Uttarakhand and ‘Amarnath’ in Jammu & Kashmir can be accessed by registered users either through the website of India Meteorological Department (IMD) or through MapmyIndia.

“We have collaborated with the MapmyIndia for sharing these forecasts with the ‘Char Dham’ and ‘Amarnath’ Yatris. People will get to know the forecasts of extreme weather events through this facility. Other pilgrim centres will also be covered under this facility in due course,” said Rajeevan.

The ministry has covered these two ‘yatras’ in the first phase, keeping in view vulnerability of the Himalayan region.

The ministry, providing multiple weather, climate, ocean and seismological services through its different scientific bodies, on Friday also spelt out its ‘future goals’ for different services and released a detailed project report (DPR) of the country’s ambitious ‘Deep Ocean Mission’.

Development of technologies for “underwater robotics” and “underwater vehicles” is a key component of the mission. The robotics and vehicles will help India harness various minerals in deep water, besides being used for marine research.

The ‘Underwater Robotics’ will include state-of-the-art ‘Swarm Robotics’ along with associated sensors and communication systems. The project is proposed to be implemented through the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) - an autonomous Institute under the MoES.

