The Aerodrome Meteorological Office in Nagpur, a certified unit of the India Meteorological Department, is set to organize a significant national training event aimed at tackling one of winter's biggest challenges for Indian aviation: dense fog. Scheduled for December 9, the 3rd All India One-Day Hybrid Training Workshop will focus on forecasting winter weather, with a special emphasis on fog prediction to enhance flight safety.
Addressing a Costly and Dangerous Hazard
Fog presents a severe and persistent threat to air travel across India. Its ability to form rapidly and drastically reduce visibility frequently disrupts critical airport operations, including aircraft landings and take-offs. This is a recurring issue every winter for major airports in northern and central parts of the country, leading to widespread delays and cancellations that inconvenience thousands of passengers.
The economic impact is staggering. Citing a 2019 study co-authored by S.D. Ghude, the workshop highlights that 653 hours of dense fog at Delhi's IGI Airport between 2011 and 2016 alone resulted in losses worth USD 3.9 million. The problem extends far beyond the national capital. Airports in cities like Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Jaipur, Amritsar, Bhopal, Indore, and Nagpur itself regularly face similar disruptions. Cumulatively, the nationwide economic burden from fog-related flight issues runs into several hundred crores of rupees each winter season.
Building Forecasting Capacity Nationwide
This capacity-building workshop is designed to directly address this critical gap. It will be led by senior scientists R Balasubramanian, Scientist-G and Head of RMC Nagpur, and Dr. Rizwan Ahmed, Scientist-D and Director-in-Charge of AMO Nagpur. The event is organized in collaboration with IISER Bhopal and the India Meteorological Society's Bhopal Chapter.
The curriculum is comprehensive and practical, focusing on equipping participants with modern forecasting tools and knowledge. Key training modules will include:
- Understanding regional fog climatology.
- Detection techniques using Runway Visual Range (RVR) and ceilometer data.
- Interpreting Fog RGB products from the INSAT-3D and 3DR satellites.
- Utilizing Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models for fog forecasting.
- Procedures for Category II and III low-visibility landings.
To ground the training in real-world scenarios, the workshop will also feature detailed case studies of high-impact fog events, including notable episodes at Delhi's IGI Airport.
A Step Towards Safer Winter Skies
The initiative by the IMD's Nagpur office underscores a proactive approach to mitigating a well-known seasonal risk. By enhancing the forecasting skills of meteorological professionals across the country, the workshop aims to provide more accurate, timely, and location-specific fog warnings. This, in turn, will allow airport authorities and airlines to make better-informed decisions, potentially minimizing disruptions, enhancing safety, and reducing the heavy financial toll fog takes on the aviation sector and the economy every year.
As winter sets in, this focused training represents a crucial step in building resilience against a natural hazard that has long tested the robustness of India's aviation infrastructure.
