India’s First Integrated Aviation Weather Intelligence, Nowcasting Facility Launched at IGIA
The deployment of SKYCAST is expected to significantly strengthen in runway and air traffic flow management, operational preparedness during fog and severe weather, real-time pilot situational awareness, passenger convenience and operational predictability and research and indigenous capabilities in aviation meteorology
New Delhi: Delhi International Airport Limited along with the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched India’s first integrated aviation weather intelligence and nowcasting facility at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The facility, called SKYCAST, will help in aviation safety during take-off and landing, reduction in weather-related delays and diversions etc.
The deployment of SKYCAST is expected to significantly strengthen in runway and air traffic flow management, operational preparedness during fog and severe weather, real-time pilot situational awareness, passenger convenience and operational predictability and research and indigenous capabilities in aviation meteorology.
“With the commissioning of SKYCAST, Delhi Airport becomes the only airport in India to deploy a comprehensive, real-time atmospheric monitoring system specifically designed to support aviation and airport operations,” GMR that runs Delhi airports, said in a statement on Friday.
SKYCAST is a next-generation aviation meteorological platform that integrates advanced remote sensing technologies, atmospheric profiling systems, and intelligent nowcasting tools to continuously track rapidly evolving weather conditions that may impact flight operations. The system combines a Radar Wind Profiler (RWP), Microwave Profiling Radiometer (MPR), SODAR (Sonic Detection and Ranging), and Automated Weather Stations (AWS) to deliver high-resolution wind and thermodynamic profiling of the atmosphere.
The facility enables continuous, real-time monitoring of critical atmospheric parameters, including temperature and humidity profiles, water vapour density, cloud liquid water content, wind speed and direction, vertical wind structures, and near-surface high-resolution wind observations.
SKYCAST is capable of assessing atmospheric conditions from the surface up to nearly 10 km altitude for thermodynamic profiling and several kilometres for wind observations. This significantly enhances the ability of meteorologists and aviation stakeholders to accurately track and respond to rapidly changing weather systems.
A key feature of SKYCAST is its automated nowcasting and hazard alerting capability. The system detects and provides real-time alerts for critical aviation hazards including wind shear, fog, inversions, low-level jets, icing, and turbulence. It also supports outputs for the Integrated Wind Shear Alerting System (IWAS), convective initiation forecasts, fog evolution trends, and short-term operational nowcasts updated every five minutes.
