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Saturday, Jan 12, 2008
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Facility at schools to track weather conditions

Satyasundar Barik

Science teachers invited for training by experts

IMMT providing the necessary equipment
Some 70 schools to get computers

BHUBANESWAR: Next time when a depression forms over Bay of Bengal and you happen to be in any part of Orissa, then rush to a designated high school, you will surely get to know about the position of the atmospheric system.

This could be possible as Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) with the help of Department of Science and Technology (DST) is providing manual equipment and computers to keep track of the different weather conditions in their respective areas.

PROBE

As part of DST’s effort of capacity building of high schools on meteorological events, about 80 science teachers have been invited to be trained by experts and resource persons on theoretical and practical aspects of meteorology.

The programme under which all these exercises are being carried out is called ‘participation of youths in real-time observations to benefit education (PROBE).

Orissa is the third such State after Uttaranchal and Delhi and first coastal State to undertake this PROBE programme.

Tech resource centres

“We have identified five technology resource centres (TRC) in different zones and the central zone at IMMT. And each TRC will have 15 schools under them to monitor the programme. Computers at 70 odd schools will be connected with main server here,” Dr. G. Roy Chaudhary, convenor of training workshop on PROBE-Orissa, said here on Friday. The training is being kicked off here from January 14 to 18.

He said the primary objective was to train two teachers and five students from each school.

Elaborating more on the subject, S.N. Das, an emeritus scientist, who was heading the State project earlier, said the PROBE programme would be taken up for next three years, primarily to educate students about different extreme weather conditions and inculcate disaster-preparedness among them.

Manual equipment

The manual equipment being provided to the schools would help measure wind speeds or sudden rise in temperature and keep track of meteorological systems along their State’s coast, Dr. Das said.

“Orissa is facing meteorological events due to its long coastline and denuding forests.

The maximum temperature of certain places has gone beyond 50 degree Celsius which was quite unusual in the past.

Similarly, overall rainfall during the monsoon remained unchanged over last several years but intensity of rain during low-pressure area formation has increased leading to floods,” IMMT said.

Parameters

The premiere science research centre said it had become imperative to keep a record of the meteorological parameters at different geo-climatic regions of the State.

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