About Me
This blog is created by Dr R. R. Kelkar, former Director General of the India Meteorological Department, New Delhi (1998-2003). After his retirement from IMD, he had served as ISRO Chair Professor at the Department of Atmospheric and Space Sciences of the University of Pune (2004-2008).
Earlier, Prof Kelkar has been the President of the Indian Meteorological Society (1997-99) and an elected member of the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization, Geneva (1999-2003).
Presently, he is a member of the Governing Council of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, and the Chairman of its Research Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee on Space Sciences of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Prof Kelkar has written two books: ‘Satellite Meteorology’ in 2006 and ‘Monsoon Prediction’ in 2008. He is currently writing his third book: ‘Climate Change – A Holistic View’. He has published more than 50 scientific papers in meteorology. He is a Fellow of the Indian Meteorological Society and a recipient of the IJMG Award and the J. Das Gupta Award.
He was born on 19 December 1943 at Mumbai, India and received his B. Sc., M. Sc., and Ph. D. degrees in Physics from the University of Pune.
Chandrahas said
Very interesting Blog
L.K.Sadani said
Dear DR Kelkar,
You are required to mention your academic qualification in “About me”
I enjoy your Blog practically every day.
n. jayanthi said
Dear Dr. Kelkar,
Very interesting, informative and enjoyable blog. I believe in the adage “a busy person will always have time for every thing”. I wish I emulate at least a miniscule percentage of your enthusiam and involvement.
Regards
Jayanthi
A.MUTHUCHAMI said
Respected sir,
Your blog is nicely designed and usefull to even ordinary person and gives valuble information about past and current weather activities. Your encouragement to young people during your IMD service made science of meteorology more popular in India. Towards this goal your blog definitely help to understand Indian Climate and wather to any person. It is a knowledge source to any person interested in weather
Dr. Someshwar Das said
I browsed through your blog on Cloud and Sunshine for about an hour. Your postings were very interesting. It is so amazing and inspiring to read your thoughts on topics ranging from Science to Philosophy of Weather, and the way you have been so constructively utilizing your time after superannuation. I enjoyed reading your blog. I wish and pray, May God bless you so that you keep blessing us by your inspiring thoughts for ever.
Best regards,
Somesh
achuta ramaiah somayajula said
Dea rrkelkar sir
The write up is beautiful never knew that Simla office existed in Pune. Pray accept my congratulations on the article. However you did mention that Kennedy house is no longer there. I beg to differ . I did my schooling and college education from Simla before completing engg from IIT Madras in 67. In our time while going to school ( Har Court Butler ) we had to pass the Kennedy House building which housed the labour commission branch . Next to this building Kennedy cottage was built during the war to house Insurance Dept Minsitry of Finance . My father retired from that office in 1975 as Deputy Controller of Insurance. The Kennedy House was located on the Mall road near to the main road to Ananadale groaund down below – a motorable road that could take in Army 3 tonner trucks.
I still distinctly remember the building . I hope you were referring to the same building.
achuta
Wg Cdr S A Ramaiah (Retd)
2-B, 6-3-1100/4, somajiguda , Hyderabad-500082.
rrkelkar said
Dear Wing Commander Ramaiah,
Thank you so much for your nice comments. Kindly see my reply to your other comment on the Simla Office post.
Regards
Kelkar
Hari Singh Sisodia said
Respected Sir,
I want to know about the History of Monsoon Trough. I am S A in RS/RW Jodhpur and presently doing Ph.D. on Palaeoclimatic conditions in parts of Thar Desert.
Is it Upper Eocene age, or Miocene ? I will be highly obliged if you can send me such material of Past Climatic Changes from Quaternary to Recent.
H S Sisodia, S A, IMD, JODHPUR.
Tangella said
Dear Sir,
I have been visiting your blog regularly and would like to thank you for all the enlightening postings.
I am a film student/film maker from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, kolkata. In few weeks from now, I will be shooting my thesis film. The film is driven by the protagonist’s passion for rain … and her accidental meeting with a woman farmer who helps widen her world view.
For the film, I need weather satellite maps/ weather maps which indicate dense cloud over kerala to indicate the onset of monsoon. It means that I need archival material/ images of 25th May onwards. Where can I find them? Any suggestions?(www.weather.nic.does not have a archive).
Does IMD give archival materials/images to be used only for academic purpose?
I am very eager to send a copy of the film when I finish it. It has a song being written and composed on Rain!
Thanking you
With regards
Tangella Madhavi
manzilechar@yahoo.com
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Madhavi,
I am happy to know that you have found my blog interesting.
Please visit my post ‘Archive of Kalpana-1 Satellite Images’ on this blog. You will find there some help on how to get past satellite images. Hopefully you will get what you want. But if a you have a problem please tell me. May be I can do something.
Kelkar
Mr Do Thanh Tung (participant of SATMET6) said
Dear Sir
I am very suprised when I see your blog. It is a very interesting,impressional and useful blog. It shows so many informations about weather and climate.
It brings many knowledges to me who intered in meteorology and remote sensing.
Thank you
Sincerely
Thanh Tung
Prof R R Kelkar said
Thanks for your kind words. I would be happy to be in touch with you and I am sure you will do well in your course. Kelkar
Francy said
Dear Dr Kelkar,
I am writing an anthropology paper about how geography influences culture, in this case, the culture of the people of the Deccan Plateau in India. I am focusing on the use of solar power. I saw a figure (and lost the specific URL) on the internet saying that they have a high percentage of sunny days enabling them to benefit from solar sources. I can’t locate this information on percentage of sunshine per year, can you help me? I could benefit from this information in a smaller area, I could limit it to a city i.e. Bangalore.
Sincerely,
Francy Washington, D.C.
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Francy,
Thanks for your comment. I am on travel right now but I hope to give you some information next week. Is that OK? My email id is kelkar_rr@yahoo.com.
R R Kelkar
Pune, India
Francy said
Dear Dr Kelkar,
Thank you for your response, I look forward to hearing from you when you get back from traveling.
Francy
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Francy,
You may try accessing this link: http://www.city-data.com/forum/weather/139872-hours-sunshine-animated-map-world.html
where you can find global maps of sunshine for each of the twelve months. I do not know how accurate the data is, but it may suffice for your anthropological research.
Do tell me if you find the information useful.
Regards,
Sincerely,
R R Kelkar
Pune, India
Rupa Kumar Kolli said
Dear Dr Kelkar,
I really enjoyed browsing through your pages. Your blog is such a treasure trove of information on Indian meteorology. I would appreciate if you can devote some time and energy on meteorological education and training in India, and find a way to inspire bright young students to pursue careers in meteorology, both in operations and research.
I am happy to know that you are planning to write a book on climate change with focus on India. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any help in your efforts.
All the best,
Rupa Kumar.
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Dr Rupa Kumar,
How nice of you to write your words of appreciation about me and my blog. It is indeed a popular blog and in the last two years there have been over 37,000 hits.
Two of my books on Satellite Meteorology and Monsoon Prediction have been selling well and that has encouraged me to take up writing this book on climate change. My idea is to present a balanced view of climate change and not a one-sided scary scenario as is often done. I have your paper on the PRECIS simulation but if you have any updates I would be happy to have them.
I used to teach at the University of Pune until Dec 2008 when I retired after crossing 65 years.
Regards and best wishes,
Kelkar
Bapu Kamble said
Dear Dr. Ranjan Kelkar:
I came across your blog when I was looking for latest version of Marathi bible that I wanted to buy. Since I left our high school (St. John’s Secondary School, Pune), I lost contact with old shoolmates. I read your articles and they are very good, especially the one on Kalidasa.
On my recent visit to Pune, I met Ramlal Khandale and Shankar Belgude and they told me about you. Reply to me when you will get time. I live in Staten Island, New York.
Bapu
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Bapu,
What a pleasure to rediscover each other through this blog! Let us now remain in touch. I am travelling next week and I shall send you a longer mail after I am back.
Ranjan
R.Rakesh said
Hi,
Rakesh from Nagercoil, near Kanyakumari.
Following your blog regularly for past 6 months.
I’m a weather enthusiast, and running a web blog purely for India weather reports and forecasts.
We (me and my father) follow & Discuss weather changes and really enjoy it!.
Now i’m trying to develop a “Online Weather Community” for India.
Please help me with your advises.
Thanks
Rakesh
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Rakesh,
I have visited your site off and on. It is nice, but you take a lot of information from other sites and you do not always give due acknowledgement. If you want to develop an online weather community, you should not copy everything into your site, but describe what information other sites have and provide links to them.
Good luck
R R Kelkar
girish said
sir, i need climatological data for jaipur which includes sun path diagram,altitude, azimuth calculations,wind rose diagram etc. pl. guide . thanks n ragards.
girish
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Girish,
If you are located in Jaipur, please contact the Meteorological Centre there. Or, please visit the web site of the India Meteorological Department Pune at http://www.imdpune.gov.in/research/ndc/ndc_index.html where you will find information on available data and how to acquire it.
Kelkar
Sudhanva Kolhatkar said
Dear Dr. Kelkar,
I am a practicing architect from Pune for past 15 years. Currently I am perusing my masters degree in Environmental Architecture. As a part of the study for this course, I was browsing through various pages related to climate. I also had particular requirement of climatic data of Shreevardhan in Konkan where i am proposing a project as a part of the course study. While surfing on the net, i came across your blog. I was amazed to see your enthusiasm in starting the blog and also to see the replies sent by you to various queries with great patience!
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Sudhanva,
Thanks for your nice comment. There are many people who visit my blog as I can see from the hit counter. But there are only a few like you who actually spend time and effort to express themselves on my blog. I appreciate your kind gesture.
Thanks and regards,
R R Kelkar
prasanna kale said
Praise the Lord,
Very glad to just see this site.
and fullof joy after reading about you.
Very graceful.
Thanking You,
Prasanna Kale
sangli
Baban said
Respected Sir ,
I am proud to be student of teacher like you who despite having achieved that not many can , helps people through blogs .
In one of the latest update in your blog , you have mention the image of meteorologist in the common public. But I think we are not doing enough to improve that . Latest example of cyclone Phyan . Do you think the track prediction was upto the mark . Did not we did abysmally bad ? I will be happy to see your comment on it .
Thank you
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Baban,
It was nice to hear from you. Hope you are doing well. What you say is very pertinent, but as a rule I do not get involved in operational matters which are IMD’s responsibility and best left to them.
Be in touch
Kelkar