Pakistan Meteorological Department, Karachi
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Objective

Pakistan Meteorological Department is responsible for providing meteorological services throughout Pakistan to wide variety of interest and for activities which requires climatic info. Main Objectives are to provide information on weather, climate and geophysical phenomenon with the aim of traffic safety in air, on land and sea, mitigation of disasters, agriculture development based on climatic potential of the country, climate change, impact assessment, future projections of climate and adaptation options in different sectors. Main Objective are to provide information on weather, climate and geophysical phenomenon with the aim of traffic safety in air, on land and sea, early waring for mitigation of disasters, agriculture development based on climatic potential of the country, climate change, impact assessment, future projection of climate and adaptation options in different sectors.

AFFILIATION WITH INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES.

Pakistan Meteorological Department is a member of:
a. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and has affiliation with different agencies like UNDP, ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclone.
b. Pakistan Met. Department is also a member of SAARC Met. Research Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

PMD, Karachi Main Areas of Operations



COMPUTERISED DATA PROCESSING CENTRE.
With the help of WMO/UNDP in the equipment, expertise and foreign fellowships, a Computerised Data Processing Centre (CDPC) has been established in Pakistan Meteorological Department. The Computerised Data Processing Centre (CDPC) at Karachi is also involved in Meteorological research activities and in the production of computer aided statistical models e.g. Temperature and Climatic variations, rainfall variations during the past 60-80 years over the main cities of Pakistan.
The CDPC is also responsible for the production of 1961-90 Climatological Normals which was an international commitment and has been successfully accomplished. Ever since the data is being computerised, a large number of requests from users are pouring in, which are met almost instantaneously. Another step taken by CDPC, Karachi is the issue of a Bulletin "Monthly Climatic Summary of Pakistan" which contains real time Met. Data of 18 stations for the month as well as verified Met. Data for previous month. The bulletin is issued by 7th of the next month and contains computer printed maps, graphs, Normals etc, for the month.

INSTITUTE OF METEOROLOGY GEOPHYSICS (IMG) KARACHI
The Department's training institute at Karachi provides training to in-service personnel in Meteorology. Trainees of other organizations as well as from abroad also benefits from this Institute. Currently internationally recognised courses upto M.Sc level in Meteorology are offered. So far 2697 national and 55 international trainees have benefitted from this institute. The training statistics from 1958 to 1995 is shown in Annexure-V.

WEATHER SURVEILLANCE RADAR
Continuing along the path of modernization and with the encouragement from the Government, two Weather Surveillance Radars have been installed at Karachi and Islamabad with the assistance of Government of Japan. A precipitation measuring radar is going to be installed at Lahore with the financial assistance of Asian Development Bank. These radars have the capability to monitor the weather systems and their characteristics upto a radius of 400 kms. A precipitation measuring radar bearing 10 cm wave length is going to be installed at Lahore with the financial assistance of Asian Development Bank.

WEATHER FORECAST (i) Daily (ii) Weekly (iii) Seasonal 2. AERONAUTICAL FORECASTING (i) Landing Forecast for Airports of Pakistan. (ii) Route Forecasts for National/International Routes. (iii) Individual Met. Briefing to pilots. 3. TROPICAL CYCLONE FORECASTING (i) Detection of Depressions, Tropical Storm and Tropical Cyclone. (ii) Tracking of these Weather Systems. (iii) Forecasting of intensity of the Weather Systems. 4. MARINE FORECASTING. (i) Coastal Area Forecasts (General Weather) (ii) Forecasting of low/high tides. 5. RECEIPT OF MET. DATA Data is received through:- (i) Communication Network (National & International) (ii) W.S.Radar Network. (iii) Satellite imaginaries tracking (iv) Upper Air data from various Met. Stations. (v) Data Collection Platform (D.C.P. i.e, equipment capable of receiving data dissemination from geostationary satellites). 6. TRANSMISSION OF MET. DATA. (i) Through National & International Communication system. (ii) A.F.T.N. (iii) Data Distribution System (D.D.S.) 7. RELEASE OF MET. DATA. (i) To Press/information medias; the data are provided through telephone/fax. (ii) National and neighboring countries forecast is presented through T.V. (iii) National and International aeronautical forecast in provided in the written form to the user agencies IV SYSTEM OF DISSEMINATION OF AERONAUTICAL MET. DATA TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES Aeronautical Weather Forecast charts (PROG Charts) are provided to the Airlines. The charts deal with the ground level to a height of 40,000 feet. These include the significant aeromet weather and the forecasted weather at the destination/alternate aerodrome.

National Seismic and Tsunami Monitoring Center
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) holds the responsibility for seismic monitoring and tsunami early warning in Pakistan. It is the liability of the PMD to disseminate earthquake information to Government, non Government organization and to public after the occurrence of any event. The seismic monitoring technologies have been rapidly changed in the world. The seismic monitoring equipments have changed from analogue to digital technology. This enhanced the capability of the monitoring equipments.

National Meteorological Communication Center (N.M.C.C)
National Meteorological Communication Center is an important unit of Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) where the collection of Met data and its rebroadcast both on National and International take place. Timely transmission / provision of the data to users forecasting of the data is also the responsibility of this unit.NMCC Karachi is connected with New Delhi through Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). There are multiple GTS stations in Pakistan and India. In Pakistan these GTS stations connected with NMCC Karachi, This RTH system behaves like a server as well as client which broadcast and receive data from India periodically. In the setup of RTH both (NMCC, New Delhi) connected with local telephone exchange. In both end of RTH, the systems connected with local switch which is further connected with local telephone exchange PBX by which the communication setup is possible.