Addu High School

Hithadhoo

Field visit to MET OFFICE, S. Gan

26th January, 2017 (Thursday)

Time: 14:30-17:30

No. of students: 40

No of boys: 17 No of girls: 21

Objectives

Give student opportunity to see how climate data is collected

Identify the equipments and apparatus used to measure various climatic factors.
Gain in-depth information about weather forecast in Maldives and weather alerts
provide climate change records over the past months/years

Introduction

Maldives is located on the equator and therefore experiences monsoonal climate. There are two
distinct seasons, dry season (Northeast Monsoon) and wet season (Southwest Monsoon). In these
two seasons the temperature varies hardly. Northeast monsoon extends from January to March.
Since Maldives consists of small islands and are surrounded by sea, hot days are often tempered
by cooling sea breezes and balmy evening temperatures (Maldives meteorological service, 2015)

Temperature

Throughout the year, temperature remains almost same in the Maldives. However, daily
temperature ranges from around 31 degrees Celsius in daytime to 23 Celsius in night time. The
highest temperature ever recorded in the Maldives was 36.8C, recorded on 19 May 1991 at
Kadhdhoo Meteorological Office. Likewise, the minimum temperature ever recorded in the
Maldives was 17.2C, recorded at the National Meteorological Centre on 11th April 1978.

Rainfall

The wet season; southwest monsoon runs from mid-May to November. In this season Maldives
experiences torrential rain. The highest rainfall ever recorded in the Maldives with in a 24 hour
period was recorded on 9th July 2002 at Kaadedhdhoo Meteorological Office and amounts to
219.8mm of rainfall.
 Sunshine

The fact that the Maldives is located at the equator, Maldives receives plentiful of sunshine
throughout the year.

Task 1: Equipments and Instruments used to measure climatic factors

Based on the information gained from the field visit, complete the table given below.

Factor Accuracy of
How the instrument is Todays
Name of measured by the
used to measure the record value
equipment/instrument the equipment/ap
factor of the factor
instrument paratus
Task 2: Weather Alerts

Complete the table to identify the type of weather alerts, criteria for issuing Weather Alerts and
actions taken.

Alert level Features Actions to be taken

Task 3: weather radar station

Q1 what is the role of the radar station at Gan.

Q2 what type of radar station is at Gan

Q2 what kinds of factors is been measured at the radar station?

Precipitation,

Motion of precipitation

Type of precipitate (rain, snow, hail etc.)

Task 4: Questions

Q1 The graph below shows the temperature changes at three regions of Maldives since 2000

(Source: http://www.meteorology.gov.mv/climateofmaldives)

(a) Compare the maximum temperature changes of the three regions in Maldives

(b) Temperature affects the gross primary productivity of plants. With reference to the graph
state and explain which region you would expect to have a higher GPP. (4)