Pandemic delays activation of weather radar in Karachi

New Doppler radar, installed at a cost of Rs1.08b, was to be made functional before monsoon

KARACHI: A newly-installed Doppler radar in Karachi, which the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had announced to make operational by monsoon season this summer, has not been made functional as its testing and analysis faces delays amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The installation of the radar, costing Rs1.08 billion, took a year and a half and was completed in two phases, with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which also furnished 97 per cent of the funds for the endeavour. The remaining three per cent funds for the radar was furnished by the federal government.

In the first phase of its installation, a multi-storey building was constructed to house the radar and it was equipped with the required apparatus in the second phase, under the supervision of Japanese engineers.

It is now only left to be tested by a team of Japanese engineers, whose visit has been delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. They had last visited the country in March.

According to PMD chief meteorologist Sardar Sarfaraz, the radar would have been made functional before the monsoon season this year had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing situation.

"We had planned to use it for monitoring three systems of rain entering Sindh and Balochistan from the west for a period of 24 hours," he said, adding that Japanese experts were also to train PMD engineers to use the radar. "But now this is not possible, keeping in view the current situation," he regretted.

Sarfaraz went on to explain that the method employed for weather surveillance using Doppler radar was called "calibration," adding that the PMD would now rely on conventional processes for monsoon rain forecasts.

Comparing the new Doppler radar with the PMD's old weather surveillance radar, he elaborated that the former was a 10-centimetre wavelength radar while the latter had a 5-cm wavelength. For a layman's understanding, he explained that the Doppler radar would result in a more accurate weather forecast.

The chief meteorologist said that the Doppler radar installed in Karachi covered an area of 450 kilometres in the suburbs of the city and could be used for making short-term weather forecasts by monitoring thunderstorms, cloud masks and other atmospheric conditions in all four directions. Besides, it can help in aviation and with cyclone forecasts, he added. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2020.