India, March 25 -- India's weather monitoring network may soon expand into the open seas, with a parliamentary panel urging the Centre to deploy floating radar systems on buoys to plug critical gaps in ocean observations and improve forecasting of cyclones and extreme rainfall.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on science and technology, environment, forests and climate change, headed by Bhubaneswar Kalita, made the recommendation in its report on the ministry of earth sciences, stressing the need to prioritise the project proposed by the Centre.

The committee noted that ocean-atmosphere interactions play a crucial role in influencing extreme weather events, including the formation and intensification of cyclones and extreme rainfall...