Delhi Airports Implements Integrated Weather Intelligence System to Enhance Air Travel Safety and Efficiency

Delhi Airport Deploys Advanced Weather Intelligence System

The Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has inaugurated 'SKYCAST', the country's first integrated aviation weather intelligence and nowcasting facility at the airport. This cutting-edge system is the result of a collaboration between DIAL and the Ministry of Science & Technology.

The SKYCAST system enables continuous, real-time monitoring of critical atmospheric parameters, including temperature and humidity profiles, water vapour density, cloud liquid water content, wind speed and direction, vertical wind structures, and near-surface high-resolution wind observations. This advanced system is comprised of a Radar Wind Profiler (RWP), Microwave Profiling Radiometer (MPR), SODAR (Sonic Detection and Ranging), and Automated Weather Stations (AWS).

SKYCAST has the capability to assess atmospheric conditions from the surface up to nearly 10 kilometres altitude for thermodynamic profiling and several kilometres for wind observations. The system detects and provides real-time alerts for critical aviation hazards, including wind shear, fog, inversions, low-level jets, icing, and turbulence. Additionally, SKYCAST supports outputs for the Integrated Wind Shear Alerting System (IWAS), convective initiation forecasts, fog evolution trends, and short-term operational nowcasts updated every five minutes.

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Delhi airport is not alone in deploying advanced atmospheric profiling and aviation weather intelligence systems. Similar systems are already in place at Hong Kong, Heathrow (UK), John F Kennedy (US) and Singapore Changi airports as well as at NASA and Cape Canaveral launch facilities for aviation and launch weather monitoring.

Delhi airport handles an impressive 1,300 flight movements daily, making the implementation of SKYCAST a significant step towards enhancing aviation safety and efficiency.