MoES Celebrates 20th Foundation Day in New Delhi; Launches New Weather and Ocean Science Initiatives

Key facts

• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) celebrated its 20th Foundation Day at Prithvi Bhawan, New Delhi.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) established 13 specialized Centers of Excellence across India.
• IMD upgraded the Cyclone Warning Centre in Thiruvananthapuram to an Area Cyclone Warning Centre covering Kerala, Karnataka, and Lakshadweep.
• IMD launched IMD NOVA, a web platform for tracking, validating, and archiving thunderstorm nowcasts.
• The National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) launched the WINGS mobile application providing numerical weather prediction and AI/ML predictions.
• NCMRWF developed the National Doppler Weather Radar Reflectivity Mosaic for severe weather monitoring.
• The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) published a Compendium of Monthly Seismological Bulletins for 2023 and 2024 and the Strong Motion Atlas of India (2010–2020).
• The Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) released taxonomic manuals covering 100 tintinnid ciliate species and 225 seamount-associated animals.
• The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) launched the Sagar Prahari App, an AI-enabled application for geo-tagging beach cleanups and identifying marine litter.
• NCCR also launched SAHAV 2.0, an advanced GIS-based decision-support platform for Marine Spatial Planning.
• The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) dedicated new infrastructure including a marine pipeline trestle, boat landing, and seawater intake facility for the Ballast Water Treatment Test Facility in Pamanji, Andhra Pradesh.
• NIOT deployed 8 circular HDPE floating fish cages for open-sea cage culture of Asian seabass at Chidiyatappu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• NIOT initiated industry outreach for exploring 75,000 sq. km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin containing polymetallic nodules.
• NIOT announced the Ocean Olympiad India 2026, a national-level competition to promote ocean literacy among undergraduate students.
• MoES signed a joint MoU with ICAR-NIVEDI to establish the Weather Driven Animal Disease Risk Forecasting Unit for district-level livestock disease predictions up to two months in advance.