WiFEX Completes 10 Years

Context

The Winter Fog Experiment (WiFEX), initiated in 2015 at Delhi's IGI Airport to study North India’s severe winter fog, has completed a decade of systematic observation and forecasting research.

About WiFEX

Launched: 2015 by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
Collaborating Agencies: India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).
Primary Objective: To understand the physical and chemical processes of fog formation and improve forecasting models for dense winter fog in the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

Significance of IGI Airport (Launch Site):

One of the most fog-affected airports in India.
Critical node for aviation forecasting improvement.

Technological Infrastructure and Observations:

Instruments used: Ceilometers, micrometeorological towers, high-frequency sensors.
Parameters monitored: Surface and boundary-layer temperature, wind, humidity, turbulence, soil heat flux, and aerosols.
Outcome: Creation of a high-resolution (3 km) probabilistic fog prediction model with 85% accuracy for very dense fog (<200m visibility).

WiFEX-II Expansion:

Goal: Localized, runway-specific fog forecasting extended to more airports like Jewar (Noida) and Hisar (Haryana).
Infrastructure: Installation of dedicated fog-monitoring instruments at multiple sites.
Application: Supports aviation safety, early warning dissemination, and transport planning during fog events.