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Avalanche Monitoring Radar

Posted on September 24, 2022 by admin1  1305

In News

  • Recently, the Indian Army and the Defence Geoinformatics and Research Establishment (DGRE) have jointly installed the Avalanche Monitoring Radar, first of its kind in India, in north Sikkim.
    • The radar was inaugurated by Tri Shakti Corps commander.

About the radar

  • DGRE
    • The avalanche radar was made operational by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s wing DGRE, which is involved in forecasting and mitigation of avalanche hazards faced by the Indian Army in the Himalayan region.
  • Capability
    • This radar has the capability to detect avalanches within three seconds of their triggering and will assist in saving valuable life of troops and civilians as also vehicles in super high altitude areas.
    • It can scan the targeted slope for avalanche release and track its path and its size in case it is triggered.
    • It can see through snow, fog as well as in the night, making it an all weather solution and covers an area of two sq/km
    • The radar is also linked to an alarm system enabling automatic control and warning measures in case an avalanche is triggered.
  • Working mechanism
    • The radar uses a series of short microwave pulses which are scattered at the target and can detect an avalanche in less than three seconds.

Significance of the radar 

  • It will help in saving the lives of troops and reducing damage to property. 
  • Detecting landslides: Besides being used for detection of avalanches, this radar can also be employed to detect landslides.
  • It obviates the requirement to place additional instruments in dangerous avalanche prone areas.
  • Images and videos of the event are automatically recorded for future analysis by the experts.  

Avalanche

  • During an avalanche: a mass of snow, rock, ice, soil, and other material slides swiftly down a mountainside.
    • Avalanches of rocks or soil are often called landslides.
  • Snow Slides is the most common kind of avalanche: It can sweep downhill faster than the fastest skier.
  • A snow avalanche begins when an unstable mass of snow breaks away from a slope.
  • Avalanches occur as layers in a snowpack slide off. 
    • A snowpack is simply layers of snow that build up in an area, such as the side of a mountain.
  • There are two main types of snow avalanches: 
    • Sluff avalanches occur when the weak layer of a snowpack is on the top. 
      • A sluff is a small slide of dry, powdery snow that moves as a formless mass. 
    • Sluffs are much less dangerous than slab avalanches.
      • A slab avalanche occurs when the weak layer lies lower down in a snowpack. 

Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE)

  • It is a Chandigarh-based Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab providing cutting-edge terrain intelligent solutions to the Armed Forces.
  • DGRE is a new establishment formed with the merger of two premier DRDO labs viz. Snow & Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) Chandigarh and Defence Terrain Research Laboratory (DTRL) Delhi. 

Source: TH

 
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