Ministry of Earth Sciences Schemes

2019-01-30

Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS) scheme was recently approved by the Cabinet Committee.
It is an umbrella scheme with 9 sub schemes.
Its objective is to provide a reliable weather and climate forecast for betterment of society.
It pertains to the atmospheric science programs of the MoES and addresses different aspects of weather and climate services, which includes warnings for cyclone, storm surges, heat waves, thunderstorms etc.
Each of the above aspects is incorporated as 9 sub-schemes under the umbrella scheme “ACROSS”.
The schemes will be implemented in an integrated manner by 4 institutes –

O-SMART

Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART) is an umbrella scheme for the development of ocean activities.
It encompasses a total of 16 sub-projects addressing ocean development activities by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Its implementation period is from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
It aimed at stepping up ocean research and setting up early warning weather systems.
The important deliverables under the scheme are,

Strengthening of ocean observations, modelling, ocean services for fishermen,
Setting up marine coastal observatories for tracking marine pollution in 2018,
Setting up Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant (OTEC) in Kavaratti in Lakshadweep.
Setting up of the state-of-the-art Early Warning Systems to deal with ocean disasters like tsunami,

storm surges.

The technologies developed under this Scheme will help in harnessing the vast ocean resources of both living and non-living resources from the seas.

Sagar Vani

Sagar Vani is an integrated information dissemination system that primarily serves fishermen community with advisories and alerts towards their livelihood as well as their safety at Sea.
The information to be disseminated is given by INCOIS under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
Services will be disseminated in local languages using advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
It uses power of television and cable network mediums for alert dissemination services.
The system also has the facility to provide access to various stakeholders, NGOs, State Fishery Departments, Disaster Management Authorities to further disseminate these information and alerts.

Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva

The scheme is implemented by India Meteorological Department in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities /Indian Council of Agricultural Research etc.
It issues crop and location specific weather based agro advisories for the benefit of farming community.
The Agro-meteorological Advisory Services (AAS) under the GKMS is operated to prepare biweekly weather based bulletins.
The information is transmitted through multimedia channels and SMS to help farmers plan farm operations accordingly.