India’s First Lightning & Thunderstorm Research Centre To Come Up In Odisha’s Balasore

Bhubaneswar: Thunderstorm Research Testbed, a first such facility in the country, will come up in Odisha’s Balasore district, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director-General Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra informed on Friday.

The centre will be established under joint collaboration of Ministry of Earth Sciences, IMD,  Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Observatories will be set up at Balasore and nearby areas and studies on thunderstorm will be conducted at the testbed.

Mohapatra said that the centre will provide the latest information on thunder and Nor’wester and help minimise loss of life in lightning strikes during April-June in Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. “To save precious lives, there is a need to undertake research so that early information can be disseminated,” he told a local channel.

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