DRDO, ISRO join hands to enhance use of space assets for Himalayan meteorology

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have joined hands to employ space-based technology for enhancing the capabilities of monitoring of snow cover in the Himalayas and mountain meteorology forecasts.

Terrain analysis across all frontiers as well as snow cover analysis, weather forecast and avalanche prediction in high-altitude areas is a crucial activity undertaken by DRDO’s Chandigarh-based Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE) for planning troop movements and deployments, besides assisting the civil administration.

A memorandum of understanding for this has been signed by Dr Pramod Kumar Satyawali, Director DGRE, and Nilesh Desai, Director of ISRO’s Ahmedabad-based, Space Applications Centre (SAC).

“The collaboration will focus on development and validation of satellite-based retrieval algorithms for snow cover, glacier and terrain parameters, integration of high-resolution satellite meteorological forecasts, and sharing of field data and satellite imageries for operational geospatial products over the Himalayan region,” DRDO said.

DGRE’s mission is to provide specialised, real-time data and actionable intelligence on snow, terrain, and weather to the Indian Army to support operational requirements in the Himalayan region. Its core research areas include snow hydrology, avalanche forecasting and mitigation, geoinformatics and mapping soil and terrain using satellite data and geospatial tools.

SAC, on the other hand, is a major research and development centre of ISRO involved in the development of space-borne and airborne instruments and payloads to meet the communication, navigation and remote sensing needs of the country.