International Monsoons Project Office

Context: Recently, the Minister of State Earth Sciences launched the International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO) on the occasion of National Science Day 2022.
About International Monsoons Project Office

• It was established at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) under an agreement between the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and IITM, with the approval of the Hon'ble Minister of Earth Sciences, on 30 July 2021.
• IMPO is built on the experience gained with the International CLIVAR Monsoon Project Office (ICMPO), hosted by IITM during 2015-2021, with the recognition that its mandate needs to be expanded to cover all monsoon research related matters in WMO programmes.

Functions

• It supports the activities of the Monsoons Panel, jointly established by CLIVAR and GEWEX core projects of the WCRP. 
• It also supports the monsoon relevant activities of the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP)'s Working Group on Tropical Meteorology Research (WGTMR).  

Significance

• The IMPO is a step towards making India a global hub for monsoon research and coordination in a seamless manner for addressing common and region-specific aspects of the monsoons around the world".
• It will give huge impetus to global monsoon research yielding mutual benefits to both the international and Indian research fraternity.