Simply put, the interstellar medium is the material which fills the space between the stars. Many people imagine outer space to be a complete vacuum, devoid of any material. Although the interstellar regions are more devoid of matter than any vacuum artificially created on earth, there is matter in space. These regions have very low densities and consist mainly of gas (99%) and dust. In total, approximately 15% of the visible matter in the Milky Way is composed of interstellar gas and dust.
The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the galaxy) by the solar wind. Although electrically neutral atoms from interstellar space can penetrate this bubble, virtually all of the material in the heliosphere emanates from the Sun itself.
For the first ten billion kilometres of its radius, the solar wind travels at over a million kilometres per hour.As it begins to collide with the interstellar medium, it slows down before finally ceasing altogether.
The point where the solar wind slows down is the termination shock; the point where the interstellar medium and solar wind pressures balance is called the heliopause; the point where the interstellar medium, travelling in the opposite direction, slows down as it collides with the heliosphere is the bow shock.
Quick Facts: 8 Missions of Prime Minister's Action Plan on Climate Change:National Solar Mission
National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
National Water Mission
National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
National Mission for a "Green India"
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change
The WILDLIFE PROTECTION SOCIETY OF INDIA (WPSI) was founded in 1994 by Belinda Wright, its Executive Director, who was an award-winning wildlife photographer and filmmaker till she took up the cause of conservation. From its inception,
WPSI's main aim has been to bring a new focus to the daunting task of tackling India's growing wildlife crisis. It does this by providing support and information to government authorities to combat poaching and the escalating illegal wildlife trade - particularly in wild tigers. It has now broadened its focus to deal with human-animal conflicts and provide support for research projects.
lRadar Network of India Meteorological Department, at present, has 14 S-band and 25 X-band radar and radars including 5 DWRs.
lOut of 14 S-band radars, 11 are installed at Kolkata, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Chennai, Sriharikota, Karaikal, Kochi, Mumbai, Goa and Bhuj and are used for cyclone detection. 5 installed at Chennai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Sriharikota are Doppler Weather Radars and are operational w.e.f. 22.2.2002, 29.1.2003, 8.12.2004, 26.07.2006 and 9.4.2004 respectively. Chennai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam and Machilipatnam Doppler Weather Radars were procured from M/s Gematronik and Sriharikota Doppler Weather Radar was developed by ISRO under IMD-ISRO collaboration. 6 S-band Radars installed at Karaikal, Kochi, Goa, Mumbai, Bhuj and. Paradip are analogue type. 2 S-band radars at Sriganganagar & Jaisalmer are used for storm detection and one radar at HQ is used for training & testing purpose.
lOut of 25 X-band radars, 9 installed at Kolkata, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur and Agartala airports are being used for Storm detection and 17 for wind finding. All the wind finding radars also have the facility for Weather observations. 10 old X-band radars were replaced by new X-band radars in 1996 that are equipped with computerized operations & controls.
lX-band radar installed at Srinagar outlived its life and therefore, decommissioned and dismantled.
lS-band radar at Karaikal has been upgraded by NASA, USA under “Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)” and is being used for revalidation of data from satellite borne radar of NASA for rainfall measurement.
lIt is also planned to replace the remaining existing old conventional CDRs by the state of art S – Band Doppler Weather Radar in a phased manner. Doppler Weather Radars provide vital information on radial velocity within a tropical cyclone which is not available in conventional radar.
lConventional radar provides information only on reflectivity whereas Doppler Weather Radars provide information on velocity and spectral width in addition to reflectivity.
lVarious Meteorological, Hydrological and Aviation products derived from Doppler Weather Radar data using a variety of software algorithms are very useful for forecasters in estimating the storm’s center, its intensity, fixing its position and predicting its future path and safe navigation of aircrafts and ships.
lIndia Meteorological Department is modernising its observational network. Modernisation program includes replacement of all the radars with Doppler Weather Radars in phased manner. Doppler Weather Radars will also be installed at some new locations to fill data gaps.
lUnder 1st phase of modernization, 12 old and obsolete radars at Delhi, Patiala, Lucknow, Patna, Mohanbari, Agartala, Paradip, Bhopal, Nagpur, Goa, Karaikal and Hyderabad will be replaced by DWRs procured from M/s Beijing Metstar Radar Company Ltd Beijing, China. 2 indigenous DWRs manufactured by M/s BEL, Bangalore will be installed at Mumbai and Kochi.
lOne Doppler Weather Radar procured from M/s Beijing Metstar Radar Company Ltd Beijing, China has already been installed and declared commissioned w.e.f. 22-04-2010 at Palam Airport New Delhi. Installation at Hyderabad is under progress and is likely to be commissioned in the month of May, 2010. Construction of buildings at other places is under progress. Doppler Weather Radars at these sites are likely to be installed / commissioned by the end of the year, 2010 as and when the buildings for these radars are ready. The existing conventional radars will be decommissioned and dismantled after installation of Doppler Weather Radars.
lOut of two Doppler Weather Radars manufactured by M/S BEL, Bangalore has already been delivered by M/S BEL at Bhuj and the process of installation has been initiated. The second radar will be installed at Mumbai and expected to be installed / commissioned before start of Monsoon.
lOld and obsolete conventional radars installed at Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Bhuj, Mohanbari have been decommissioned and dismantled to give way for building construction and installation of Doppler Weather Radars.
lTwo C-Band Radars are also under procurement. These will be installed at Delhi (HQ) and Jaipur. These are expected to be installed / commissioned before Oct, 2010 under 1st phase of modernisation.
l 34 more Doppler Weather Radars, having dual polarization capability will be in 2nd and 3rd phase of modernisation. Some of them will replace old and obsolete conventional radars.
lIndia Meteorological Department has also plans to establish of National Weather Radar Operation Centre (NWROC) which will be responsible for maintenance of India Meteorological Department’s radar network, archival and dissemination of data, development of algorithms for new products, network planning and Research and Development.
lThe existing digital Doppler Weather Radars have been networked through VPN connectivity together and to a server located at India Meteorological Department HQ, New Delhi .
lThe data is being received at the server and processed by SIGMET IRIS software installed on it for generating composite image . The software also converts format of the raw data to NetCDF, HDF5, UF and BUFR Oper for assimilating into NWP models and for ingesting in SYNERGY system supplied by MFI.
Recently we read in the newspapers that Indian Meteorological Department is modernizing its observational network by replacing its old and conventional radar by the state of art S-band Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) in a phased manner at different locations all over the country. A Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) would provide short-range accurate weather prediction in a radius of __500kms_____
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Twelve Tiger poachers convicted 25th May, 2010
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