After IGIA, more airports in North India will have real time fog data, to ensure safe and

Mint

5 days ago

After Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi, more airports in North India will have access to data for fog forecasting and visibility to support safe and efficient airport operations during the winter.
By installing dedicated sensors at additional sites, airport operators will gain real-time data to help them activate response plans and ensure operations remain safe and efficient—even in the thickest fog.
For airlines, pilots, air traffic controllers and passengers, this means fewer costly diversions, fewer delays, safer runways and more informed travel during the challenging winter fog season.
Every year hundreds of flights and trains are either cancelled or delayed due to thick fog in North India in the winter months especially from mid-December to mid-February. In January 2024, around 8,038 flights were delayed and 496 were cancelled due to fog, according to a written reply in Lok Sabha.
"The Winter Fog Experiment (WiFEX) is stepping into its next phase — WiFEX-II— which will extend localized, runway-specific fog predictions to more airports in North India," the government said in a press statement.
The system has already been successful at IGIA, India's busiest and most fog-affected airport. It is a robust observational network now reaching Jewar Airport, Noida, and Hisar, Haryana, covering key aviation corridors across North India, according to the government statement.
Over the past decade, WiFEX scientists have deployed advanced instruments, micrometeorology towers, ceilometers, and high-frequency sensors to collect detailed data on temperature layers, humidity, wind, turbulence, soil heat, and aerosols—building a dataset that reveals how dense fog forms and disperses.
These insights have powered the development of a high-resolution probabilistic fog prediction model, which now stands among the region's most advanced tools for operational forecasting.
The model can reliably predict when fog will begin, how dense it will be, how long it will last, and when it will clear—achieving more than 85% accuracy for very dense fog (visibility below 200 meters).
WiFEX's contribution goes far beyond forecasts. The effort has pushed the frontiers of fog science, revealing how air pollution, urban heat islands, land-use changes, and tiny airborne particles influence fog thickness and duration. These findings are now improving early warning systems and helping policymakers design better urban and air quality management plans.
Launched in the winter of 2015 at IGIA, New Delhi, WiFEX is one of the world's few long-term open-field experiments focused solely on fog. It was led by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), with support from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).