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| Chennai Port Trust Centenary Building | |
|---|---|
 Centenary Building, Chennai Port Trust, as seen from Chennai Beach Station | |
 Interactive map of Chennai Port Trust Centenary Building | |
| General information | |
| Type | Commercial office[1] |
| Architectural style | Modernism |
| Location | 1 Rajaji Salai, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600 001, India,Rajaji Salai,Chennai,India |
| Coordinates | 13°5′2″N80°17′23″E / 13.08389°N 80.28972°E /13.08389; 80.28972 |
| Owner | Chennai Port Trust |
| Height | |
| Top floor | 47.7 m (156 ft)[1] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 12 |
| References | |
| [2] | |
Chennai Port Trust Centenary Building is a 12-storied building inChennai, India, serving as the chief administrative building of theChennai Port Trust. The Port Met Office of theRegional Meteorological Centre also functions from this building and the cyclone detectionradar is situated atop the building contained in a giant football-like mascot structure, which serves as a prominent landmark in the harbour area.[3]
The Centenary Building is located opposite to theReserve Bank of India Building atFort Glacis nearFort St. George. The nearest railway stations are theChennai Beach andChennai Fort, both located within a distance of half a kilometre.
The "radome" or the radar's dome is located atop the building at nearly 53 m abovesea level. Weighing 18 tonnes, the radar continuously scans theatmosphere within the radius of nearly 500 km and provides an overview of active weather systems. The office of theDoppler Weather Radar Station is situated on the 10th floor of the building.
The radar was installed on 21 February 2002. The radar was developed byBharat Electronics Limited and is used byIndian Air Force andArmy. This is the first radar to have been installed inIndia facing the sea on one side and the land on the other. The data captured by the radar have been used to warn the region of thecyclonic storms forming in theBay of Bengal and thethunderstorms on the surface. Data from the Doppler weather radar are currently being used by theChennai airport.[4] The data onwind speed andwind direction are transmitted almost every 10 min, providing information necessary for landing and takeoff of aircraft.
Till 2011, the radar had tracked seven cyclones and three depressions formed over the Bay of Bengal, includingNisha (November 2008),Laila (May 2010),Jal (November 2010) andThane (December 2011).
The radar converts nearly 750 kilowatt power into electromagnetic radiation for tracking weather systems. The radar is capable of detecting the spatial variability and rainfall intensity across Chennai and neighbouring districts and can also track the movement of clouds and predict rainfall in another area.
The Department of Meteorology is planning for "nowcasting," a short-term forecasting where weather is predicted for the next one to three hours, using the potential of the radar to track rainfall in various parts of the region.[5]
