Doppler radar at Chennai airport to relay info on wind pattern

Chennai: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is planning to install a Doppler radar, exclusively for aviation purposes, near the city’s airport. The radar will help the airport meteorology office monitor low-level wind shear and other weather patterns so that the current weather report issued to airlines can be comprehensive.
Windshear is a generic term referring to any rapidly changing wind currents. A type of weather phenomenon called “microbursts” can produce extremely strong windshear, posing great danger to aircraft during takeoff and landing. Due to lack of information on wind pattern, the pilot may be forced to make speed corrections during landing resulting in sudden loss of airspeed and altitude. The Doppler Radar will be installed on the Tirusulam hills.
“Discussions are on with the state government to get land to install the radar. The government has promised land. If everything goes well we will have a Dopplar Radar in less than two years,” said R Suresh, director of the IMD’s airport meteorological office (AMO).
There are two hills opposite the airport in Tirusulam that are considered ideal for installing the weather radar. A signalling station of the state police and a mosque are located on one of the hills while a CSIR signal-testing centre is on the other.
03/05/10 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: Airports May 2010, New May 2010