Pune, Jul 23 (PTI) Accurate forecasts under the Winter Fog Experiment (WiFEX) have provided significant benefits to airlines, including reduction in flight diversions and cancellations, minimising economic losses and passenger inconvenience, officials said.
Using this decade-long experiment dataset, a prediction model has been developed which can now forecast a fog-related event at least 18 hours in advance and can also predict the fog’s intensity and when it will dissipate, the officials said here on Tuesday.
The WiFEX, launched in the winter of 2015 at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, has completed a major milestone – 10 successful years of dedicated research into North India’s dense winter fog and its impact on daily life and aviation safety, they said.
Building on this success, WiFEX is now stepping into its next phase — WiFEX-II — which will extend localised, runway-specific fog predictions to more airports in North and North-East India, as per the officials.
Led by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), with support from the IMD and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, WiFEX is one of the world’s few long-term open-field experiments focused solely on fog — an elusive winter hazard that frequently disrupts air, rail and road transport across the Indo-Gangetic plain, they said.
Speaking to reporters at the IITM here, Dr M Ravichandran, Secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, said a key objective of WiFEX was to generate high-quality observational data to develop a reliable high-resolution fog prediction model that could help the aviation and transport sectors manage the disruptive impacts of dense fog.
Based on comprehensive field observations collected over the past 10 years, the IITM has developed an advanced probabilistic high-resolution fog prediction system with an impressive skill rate of above 85 per cent in forecasting fog onset, intensity, dissipation timing, and duration for airports and surrounding regions in North India, he said.
“What began at the IGIA, India’s busiest and most fog-affected airport, has now grown into a robust observational network reaching the Jewar Airport in Noida and Hisar in Haryana, covering key aviation corridors across North India,” the official said.
Over the past decade, WiFEX scientists have deployed advanced instruments, micrometeorology towers, ceilometers and high-frequency sensors to collect detailed data on temperature layers, humidity, wind, turbulence, soil heat and aerosols, building an unmatched dataset that reveals how dense fog forms and disperses, he added.
The experiment has generated new scientific insights into fog genesis, revealing how pollution levels, urbanisation and land-surface interactions critically influence fog formation, persistence and clearing. It has also helped identify key parameters vital for realistic fog modelling.
“The accurate forecasts produced under WiFEX have provided significant operational benefits to airlines, including reductions in flight diversions and cancellations, thereby minimising economic losses and passenger inconvenience,” Dr Ravichandran stated.
He said the experiment is now progressing to WiFEX-II, which will expand these capabilities to other major airports in North India by deploying advanced instruments to better predict localised fog events at runways.
“This sustained effort is a testament to how targeted scientific research, combined with operational forecasting, can translate into real-world impact, improving safety, efficiency and preparedness during North India’s dense winter fog season,” he added.
Dr Sachin Ghude, project director of WiFEX at IITM, Pune, said the Winter Fog Experiment was launched a decade ago to meet requirements of the aviation sector.
“To avoid disruptions in airline operations due to fog, accurate prediction was essential. WiFEX was launched at the IGIA to address these challenges and help airlines plan their operations accordingly. Over the last 10 years, we’ve gathered extensive data, focusing on how fog forms, the contributing factors, and how it can be predicted,” he said.
Using this decade-long dataset, a prediction model has been developed.
“The model can now forecast a fog-related event at least 18 hours in advance. It can also predict the fog’s intensity and when it will dissipate. After the successful launch at the IGIA, the system was extended to Noida airport two years ago,” Dr Ghude said.
WiFEX-II will now be expanded to other North Indian airports such as Jaipur and Varanasi, as airlines need to know fog conditions at alternative airports in case flights are diverted from IGIA or Noida, he said.
“We will also extend a similar setup in the North-East, where fog formation is entirely different. In the North-East, fog is classified as ‘mountain fog’, unlike the plains-based fog seen in Delhi and North India. To study mountain fog, we will deploy instruments and conduct studies in Guwahati, Assam, next year,” he added. PTI SPK GK
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