DARE Activities India

Climatological Data Digitization  Daily surface data since 1969 are available in the National Data Centre (NDC) archives. However the data prior to 1969 were still in manuscript form. There was an urgent need to digitize these data. There were as many as 20 different types of data forms to be digitized. Many of them had variations in size, format and parameters during the course of time. The main job was scanning / digital photography of each page of the data sheet for future use, permanent storage of manuscript in electronic form, data entry, data verification and archival to database.  The data entry was done at a central location with the help of the scanned images. Strict quality checks were applied to ensure that proper images are taken and indexed properly. More than 250-300 data entry operators were deployed to key the data (Ref Figure below) for steps followed).Digital Photography of Analyzed Weather Charts Weather Central, Pune, had about 5 lakh analyzed charts since 1932. They are being referred frequently by the synopticians for forecasting purposes. These analyzed weather charts have been photographed. The images are indexed properly. Digital photographs are stored on DVDs. They are also available on computer storage media, NAS and are accessible to users on network.   Digitization of Autographic Charts The project aims at scanning all the available autographic charts (about 12 lakh) and archive the images. The data extraction will be done using image processing at the desired interval of time. The pilot project has been completed and the main work will start soon