Advanced INSAT Data Utilization for Meteorological Forecasting and Agrometeorological Applications

INSAT data along with in-situ and other satellite data play a key role in meteorological forecasting over Indian region, especially for agrometeorological applications. Presently, INSAT-3A and Kalpana1 are in orbit providing parameters such as OLR, precipitation, atmospheric motion vectors, upper tropospheric humidity etc. State of the art algorithms are developed and geophysical parameters are routinely getting retrieved. The products are being utilized for monitoring the weather as well as input to meso-scale models for forecasting. Forthcoming satellite INSAT-3D will have ‘Imager’ and a infrared ‘sounder’, providing humidity and temperature profile with a spatial resolution of 10 km. The availability of meteorological parameters from these satellites and their utilization is briefly discussed. Retrieval protocols for various land surface radiation and bio-physical parameters have been tested to estimate evapotranspiration for agro-meteorological applications.