Odisha's Balasore to get country's first thunderstorm research testbed: Weather Office

Bhubaneswar: Odisha's Balasore will get the country's first thunderstorm research testbed, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.
The objective of setting up the thunderstorm testbed is to minimalise human fatalities and loss of property due to lightning strikes.

IMD Director-General Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, while speaking with a private television channel, also revealed that a first-of-its-kind monsoon testbed is also being planned near Bhopal.

Both the projects are in the planning stage and detailed project reports are being made, he said.

He said the thunderstorm testbed will be established in a collaboration between the Ministry of Earth Sciences, IMD, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

"The IMD, ISRO and DRDO already have their units in Balasore. Observatories will be set up to cater to nearby areas and studies on thunderstorms will be conducted on the testbed," he said.