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
How the Accuracy Todays
Name of measured
instrument is of the record
equipment/instr by the
used to measure equipment value of
ument instrumen
the factor /apparatus the factor
t
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)