A New Era for Indian Aviation
Every winter, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport faces a big problem. Thick fog rolls in. Flights get delayed. Planes get cancelled. Passengers wait for hours. Airlines lose crores of rupees. But this is going to change now.
On 29 May 2026, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated India's first "SkyCast System" at IGI Airport. He called it the beginning of a new era in Indian aviation. The system will give real-time weather information to pilots. It will reduce flight delays and cancellations caused by fog and turbulence.
Only 18 such advanced systems exist in the world. With SkyCast, India has become the 19th country to install this integrated atmospheric remote sensing system for aviation weather monitoring.
What is Mission Mausam?
SkyCast was developed under "Mission Mausam". This is a major initiative of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated it to the nation. Mission Mausam marks a big upgrade in India's weather forecasting and climate monitoring capabilities.
The scheme is being implemented with a total cost of ₹2,000 crore for the period 2024-2026. It aims to enhance weather monitoring and forecasting across the country. Mission Mausam is designed to provide accurate forecasts for short-term weather, weeks ahead, and even seasonal predictions.
The Science Behind SkyCast: Winter Fog Experiment (WiFEX)
SkyCast did not appear overnight. Its scientific foundation comes from years of hard research. The Winter Fog Experiment (WiFEX) was launched in the winter of 2015 at IGI Airport. It was jointly initiated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
WiFEX is one of the world's few long-term open-field experiments focused solely on fog. For ten years, scientists studied North India's dense winter fog. They deployed advanced instruments, ceilometers, and high-frequency sensors. They collected detailed data on temperature, humidity, wind, turbulence, and aerosols.
These insights helped develop a high-resolution fog prediction model. This model can reliably predict when fog will begin, how dense it will be, how long it will last, and when it will clear. It achieves more than 85% accuracy for very dense fog (visibility below 200 metres).
Key Features of SkyCast System
SkyCast combines multiple advanced technologies into one powerful system. Here are its main components:
Radar Wind Profiler: This is the core of the system. It continuously measures wind speed, wind direction, turbulence, vertical velocity, and boundary-layer dynamics up to nearly 3 kilometres above the airport. These parameters are crucial during aircraft descent and landing.
Ground-based Fog Aerosol Spectrometer (GFAS): This advanced instrument provides detailed information on fog droplets, aerosols, and aerosol-fog interactions. This is particularly important for Delhi, where pollution particles interact with fog and worsen visibility.
CL61 Lidar-based Ceilometer: This is a vertical laser that continuously monitors the vertical structure of fog. It helps scientists understand fog formation, visibility reduction, and atmospheric conditions affecting aviation.
Additional Sensors: The system also includes SODAR (Sonic Detection and Ranging), Microwave Radiometer, and Automated Weather Stations. Together, they deliver high-resolution wind and thermodynamic profiling of the atmosphere.
How SkyCast Helps Pilots and Passengers