CONTENT ❑ Introduction ❑ Climate of Sri Lanka ❑ Natural Hazards in Sri Lanka ❑ National Weather Service Department of Meteorology ❑ Challenges and Gap ❑ Hydro-met modernization Investment and plan ❑ Summary 1 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka SRI LANKA A Small Island in the Indian Ocean 20.1 million Population Density : 320 Sq. km 9 Provinces (25 districts) Area : 65,610 Sq. km Capital : Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Languages : Sinhala, Tamil Per capita : $ 4,310 ASIA 2 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka CLIMATE OF SRI LANKA Tropical and Monsoonal Two seasonal monsoonal wind regimes Changing Wind Flow during the year by 180 degrees across the Country Sri Lanka is an island in the tropics 3 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE Topography The topography of the island is consists of; Coastal plains, Central mountainous massif Lowland hills The central massif rises up to a maximum elevation of 2,524m at Pidurutalagala. Mid Climate Average Rainfall : 1860 mm/year Range of rainfall : 950 – 6000 mm Mean Temperature : 27.5 C (lowlands) Lower Temperatures in the highlands 4 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka CLIMATIC ZONES Three Climatic Zones are identified based on Annual Precipitation (R) • Dry zone : R < 1750mm • Intermediate zone : 1750 mm < R < 2500mm • Wet zone : R > 2500 mm 5 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka CLIMATE SEASONS IN SRI LANKA ➢ The two monsoon essentially determine the seasonality of SL ➢ The seasons are distinguished only by means of the timing of the two monsoons and the transitional periods separating them, called inter-monsoon seasons 1. Southwest Monsoon (SWM) : May – September 2. Northeast Monsoon (NEM) : December-February NEM December - February 3. First Inter-monsoon (FIM) : March-April 4. Second Inter-monsoon (SIM) : October-November SWM May - September 6 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka FOUR RAIN SEASONS 30 Year Climatological Average (1961-1990) Seasons Southwest Northeast First Second Monsoon Monsoon Inter-monsoon Inter-monsoon Period May-Sep Dec-Feb Mar-Apr Oct-Nov Rainfall (Average) 556 mm 479 mm 268 mm 558 mm % of Annual 30% 26% 14% 30% Average 7 HAZARDS IN SRI LANKA Sri Lanka being in the path of two monsoons is mostly affected by weather related hazards People affected by different disasters in Sri Lanka (1974-2004) Source: Disaster Management Center - Sri Lanka 8 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka CLIMATIC EXTREMES Frequency of climate extremes, especially those related to rainfall has increased Some of the highest rainfalls (24H) have been experienced during the last two decades e.g. 493 mm at Colombo 1992 725 mm at Deniyaya 2003 522 mm at Kudawa 2003 338 mm at Ratnapura 2003 440 mm at Colombo 2010 337 mm at Kandy 2012 316 mm at Kurunegala 2012 512 mm at Udugoda 2013 348 mm at Norton 2014 359 mm at Mannar 2015 380 mm at Iranamadu 2016 643 mm at Labugama 2017 Leading not only to Floods But also to severe Landslides (significant increase in landslides) 9 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka CLIMATIC EXTREMES Highest 24H Rainfall in Colombo on yearly basis from 1869 493.7 mm June 4, 1992 440.2 mm Nov 10, 2010 More and more extreme rain events are experienced. 10 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka CLIMATIC EXTREMES Recently observed weather related hazards Year Hazard 2010 Flood 2011 Flood/Drought 2012 Flood/Drought 2014 Flood/Drought 2015 Flood 2016 Flood/Drought 2017 Flood/Drought 2018 Flood/Drought 11 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY - SRI LANKA National Weather Service Vision A Centre of Excellence in weather and climate related services Mission To provide services pertaining to Meteorology, Aeronautical Meteorology, Ocean Meteorology, Hydro Meteorology, Agricultural Meteorology, Climatology and Astronomy to government agencies, private sector and the general public in keeping with national interest and international standards. 12 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY SRI LANKA ORGANIZATION SETUP National Early Warning and Meteorological Centre (NMC) • General Forecasting division • Marine weather forecasting division • Numerical weather prediction division • Observation and plotting division • National Tsunami Warning Centre (NTWC) Approved Cadre : • Communication division Scientific officers 48 Aviation forecasting division • Meteorological watch office – BIA Engineering 04 • Meteorological offices – MRIA/RMA officer Agro meteorological Division Technological 211 officers Radar and Upper air observation division Administrative & 197 Other staff Electronic division Total 460 Centre for Climate Change Studies (CCCS) Data Archives division Instrument division Rainfall and Climate data division Research division 13 Establishment/AccountsWeather and Climate Services division in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY SRI LANKA Services Provided by the Department ❖ Provision of meteorological and climatological services to general public and to agriculture, energy, fishery, shipping, insurance and other interested sectors. ❖ Provision of warnings and advisories on bad weather (including Cyclone, Heavy rain, Lightning, High wind …etc) and Tsunami. ❖ Provision of aviation meteorological services ❖ Maintenance of climatological databases ❖ Provision of meteorological and climatological services and data for national development and research purposes. ❖ Encourage study and research in meteorology, climatology, climate change and allied subjects ❖ Organize and contribute to, public awareness programmes on weather, climate and climate change thematic areas. ❖ Organize and contribute to, educational and training programs and workshops for interested groups including school children, policy and decision makers, on mandated thematic areas. ❖ Contribute to exhibitions with exhibits and resource personnel. ❖ Provision of specialized meteorological and climatological services on request. ❖ Provision of limited astronomical (sun, moon, planet and tidal) and terrestrial magnetism related services. 14 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY SRI LANKA History of Meteorological Network in Sri Lanka (Important Mile Stones) ❑ 1861- Rain Gauge Network ❑ Temperature data are available early 1900’s ❑ At the beginning meteorological service was under the Survey Department ❑ 1948 – Independent institute (Department of Meteorology) ❑ Satellite image receiving System (NOAA USA) – 1973 ❑ MSS communication system (2005) – Internet base (TCP/IP) ❑ Automatic Weather System (JICA) – 2009 ❑ COMS (KOICA) and FY2 (CHINA) Satellite Receiving System (2011/2012) ❑ Himawari (Japan) satellite receiving system-2017 15 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY SRI LANKA Present Meteorological data Observing Network 23 Synoptic Stations 4 Upper Air Stations including 3 (three) pilot balloon stations and one (1) sonde station at Colombo (Pilot – only upper air winds) (sonde – winds, temp and moisture) Synoptic Stations measure meteorological parameters every 3 hours • Temperature • Rainfall • Atmospheric Pressure • Wind speed and Direction • Relative Humidity etc. 16 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY SRI LANKA Present Meteorological data Observing Network Agro-met Stations (40) Additional Parameters - 2 times per day • Evaporation • Sunshine hours • Soil Temperature • Radiation 17 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY SRI LANKA Automated Weather Observing System 37 AWS in all over the country including some agro meteorology stations. Observations can be taken every ten minutes in the digital format on the computer. Communication method: IP/VPN 18 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY SRI LANKA Present Meteorological data Observing Network Rain gauge network manual rain gauges is approximately 500 manned by voluntary observers Only one time per day 19 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY - SRI LANKA National Weather Service Where We Are Now? 20 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY - SRI LANKA National Weather Service Tells the Future Weather Weather Condition in different Prediction time scales Scientific knowledge and Technology is important Early warning is a major Early element of disaster risk Warning reduction Our target is to achieve theses two for better service for general public and different sectors to contribute economy of Sri Lanka 21 Weather and Climate Services in Sri Lanka DEPARTMENT OFWeather METEOROLOGY Forecasting: - SRI LANKA National Weather Service Weather forecasting at present in the department is performed using mainly subjective techniques with numerical weather products used as guidance. Outputs of numerical weather prediction models of India Meteorological Department (IMD), and European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) are used extensively as guidance for forecasting at the National Meteorological and Early Warning Centre. The implementation of an in-house numerical model for Sri Lanka area and neighborhood based on WRF model which is a next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system used for both atmospheric research and operational forecasting was started in 2015. This local area model which is initialized by the output of global model runs at advanced centers is presently used on experimental basis in the department for forecasting up to 5 days ahead with promising results. Department