The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) celebrated its 20th Foundation Day at Prithvi Bhawan, New Delhi, marking two decades of contributions to earth systems science, weather forecasting, oceanography, and polar research. The event was presided over by Dr N. Kalaiselvi, Secretary of MoES, who emphasized the ministry's role as a complete value chain encompassing data provision through Prithvi systems, service provision through Mission Mausam, and technology provision through the deep ocean mission.
Distinguished guests included Dr A.E. Muthunayagam, Padma Shri awardee and founding Director/Secretary of the Department of Ocean Development, who traced the genesis of ocean research in India back to July 1981, and Dr Chandramouli Gaddamanugu, Padma Shri awardee and defence scientist, who reflected on indigenous innovation and multi-disciplinary team integration.
The event featured multiple significant launches and releases across MoES institutions. The India Meteorological Department established 13 specialized Centers of Excellence across India, upgraded the Cyclone Warning Centre in Thiruvananthapuram to an Area Cyclone Warning Centre to cover Kerala, Karnataka, and Lakshadweep, and launched a joint MoU with ICAR-NIVEDI to establish the Weather Driven Animal Disease Risk Forecasting Unit for district-level livestock disease predictions up to two months in advance. IMD also launched IMD NOVA, a web platform for tracking, validating, and archiving thunderstorm nowcasts.
The National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting launched the WINGS mobile application providing numerical weather prediction and AI/ML predictions, developed the National Doppler Weather Radar Reflectivity Mosaic for severe weather monitoring, and redesigned its Open Data Portal with expanded datasets including subseasonal-to-seasonal hindcasts and 10 years of operational ocean analysis.
The National Centre for Seismology published a Compendium of Monthly Seismological Bulletins for 2023 and 2024 and the Strong Motion Atlas of India (2010–2020) containing strong ground-motion records for earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 and above.
The Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology released taxonomic manuals covering 100 tintinnid ciliate species and 225 seamount-associated animals, along with Standard Operating Procedures for marine biological sample processing.
The National Centre for Coastal Research launched the Sagar Prahari App, an AI-enabled application for geo-tagging beach cleanups and identifying marine litter, and SAHAV 2.0, an advanced GIS-based decision-support platform for Marine Spatial Planning.
The National Institute of Ocean Technology dedicated new infrastructure including a marine pipeline trestle, boat landing, and seawater intake facility for the Ballast Water Treatment Test Facility in Pamanji, Andhra Pradesh, along with an IoT-enabled nearshore Met-Ocean observatory. They also deployed 8 circular HDPE floating fish cages for open-sea cage culture of Asian seabass at Chidiyatappu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and initiated industry outreach for exploring 75,000 sq. km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin containing polymetallic nodules. The institute also announced the Ocean Olympiad India 2026, a national-level competition to promote ocean literacy among undergraduate students.