Annual Summary Report 2015 – 2016

Highlights 

During this period meetings were conducted to plan project implementation and staff were recruited and infrastructure was setup. Data acquisition in Maldives and Sri Lanka commenced. We undertook case studies on hazards in Sri Lanka. Instrumentations were handed over to Maldivian partners and data from the instruments were acquired. We communicated regularly with researchers, partners and stakeholders. 

Contents

• Planning Project Implementation

• Project Planning for Maldives

• Installation of Soil Moisture Probes in Male 

• Staff Recruitment

• Setting up Infrastructure

• Data Acquisition

• Water Scarcity Modeling for Great Male

• Automated Weather Systems and Soil Moisture Systems

• Website and Communication

• Case Studies and Tools

• Development of GIS for use in the Maldives

• May 2016 Disaster

• Flooding in Pinga Oya (at Akurana, Kandy), Sri Lanka

• Analysis of Impacts of Proposed Sampur Coal Power Plant on Climate and Hazards

Planning Project Implementation

We have undertaken planning among the partners and out-reach institutions on the project work. We scoped out the work initially with project team and colleagues on the past FECT PEER grants. We revisited the collaboration with the US (Columbia University, University of Maine and NASA) and Maldivian partners (Maldives Meteorological Service, Maldives National University).

Project Planning for Maldives

Following discussions among co-PI’s Zubair and Zahid in the Maldives during the climate and water workshop in September 2015, we followed up with another set of visits for project planning. 

• Co-PI Dr. Zahid, Deputy Director General of the Maldives Meteorological Services (MMS) visited FECT in Sri Lanka in December 2015. 
• P. Wickramagamage (PI) and L. Zubair (co-PI) visited Maldives in May 2016 were able to engage with co-PI Dr. Zahid, and also met Wahid (Director General), Muaz (Instrument Engineer), and Rasheed (Director of weather forecasting) of the Maldives Meteorological Service. 
• A review meeting on project and planning ahead was held with the Director-General of Meteorology Maldives and other senior officials where we focused on setting up soil moisture observatory sites.
• The PI and co-PIs met with the staff at the Maldives National University (Shazla Mohamed (Dean), Mizna Mohamed (Senior Lecturer), Somnath (IT lecturer teaching GIS), Maldives Land Survey Authority (Shafi – Director General), Environmental Protection Authority (Yazeed), and Ministry of Environment (Mohamed Musthafa – Director, Shaheeda – Director General Water Division, and Afzal).
• We identified the information needs of the stakeholders / decision makers. We discussed ongoing coral bleaching with the El Nino with the Director of Marine Research Center (Dr. Shiham Adam). 

Installation of Soil Moisture Probes in Male

In September 2016, L. Zubair was able to visit Zahid again and provided soil moisture data loggers to the Maldives Meteorological Service to complement the soil moisture probes. During this visit, further discussions were held with the DG of the Maldives Meteorological Service. He also provided a workshop to the final year students in the Bachelors in Environmental Management program on research topics and plans.

Staff Recruitment

We recruited staff and some staff who were attached to our recently concluded projects were taken in (Prabodha Agalawatte, Janan Visvanathan) junior scientists (Indika Sandamali, Akram Kamiss, Udara Ratnayake and C. Gunaratne, Aishath Afaaf) writer (Shafna Sadeek) and Dr. Madura Dharmadasa were oriented on literature, data, tools and software. Internship opportunities were provided at FECT for undergraduates.

Setting up Infrastructure

The infrastructure for the project was organized and expanded – this includes office space, computing environment, supplies and other arrangements. Facilities for cloud-based services was expanded and our internet connections were upgraded.

Data Acquisition

We were able to obtain a fraction of the data required for the project. 

Following data were obtained in Sri Lanka.

• Climate
• Disasters
• Socio-economic data
• Maldives meteorological data up to 2015 were collected.
• Rainfall
• Temperature
• Humidity

We have assembled an inventory of all available data and a preliminary analysis of hazards data available in Sri Lanka was conducted; and we have developed an operational system for monthly drought estimation spatially. 

Some data for GIS work for the Maldives was obtained and we have organized GIS data sets for the Maldives. 

We are in the process of developing a management system for historical data in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Water Scarcity Modeling for Great Male

We have implemented a water scarcity analysis and system dynamics model for island-by-island water scarcity for Maldives. We are also planning for observational work on soil moisture. 

Automated Weather Systems and Soil Moisture Systems

The data from the automated weather systems installed in Sri Lanka is updated to the website and communicated via the internet.

http://www.tropicalclimate.org/myweatherdirectory/index.htm

Four soil moisture probes, a field transmitter and data loggers were handed over to the Maldives Met Services for checks on compatibility and installation. Data loggers were also provided.

Website and Communication

We have developed a project website, and continued email communication with researchers, stakeholders and users.

Monthly and Weekly Climate Reports: We continued our weekly, monthly and annual climate assessments for Sri Lanka and Maldives and have made it publicly available via our websites and through a mailing list.

Social Media: We have disseminated climate information and other relevant news by blogs (and through signing up for blog-aggregators), through Facebook pages, and twitter accounts. 

Flyer: Project flyers were prepared and distributed in Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Case Studies and Tools

Development of GIS for use in the Maldives

At the request of the Director of Water Resources at the Ministry of Environment and Energy in the Maldives, the PI, P. Wickramagamage has been refining the publicly available GIS data sets by using the remotely sensed satellite images. A Training program has been proposed for the Ministry. These data sets are being used by students at the University of Peradeniya in class exercises and to help with further refinement.

May 2016 Disaster

There was a major disaster involving flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka from 15-19th May 2016 across Western Sri Lanka leading to approximately 200 deaths, tens of thousands made homeless, and disruption of homes. This disaster led us to update our analysis and communicate more frequently on social media. Our predictions had anticipated the heavy rainfall and this information had been passed on in social media. We have reported on the climate and weather factors surrounding the disaster.

We provided the information possible on Floods and some documentation of the landslide.

Thereafter a team of 7 of our staff led by the PI visited the site of the slide at Aranayaka. A visit report was written up. 

Flooding in Pinga Oya (at Akurana, Kandy), Sri Lanka

We have provided, 

• Technical input to an environment committee formed by civil society in Akurana which is a main town on the Pinga Oya, a tributary of the Mahaweli River in Central Sri Lanka.
• A revised road map for reducing flood risks in Akurana to civil society and to the Member of Parliament for the region. 

We have also been canvassing local government and central government officials concerned with disasters, surveying and river basin management. We are undertaking a review of the floods in Akurana, and landslides at Aranayaka. We are partnering with a semi-government organization which has a mini-hydropower plant in the region on data acquisition, helping them set up a weather station near a site which had a landslide disaster in May 2016.

Analysis of Impacts of Proposed Sampur Coal Power Plant on Climate and Hazards

A new coal power plant has been proposed on the Eastern Coast of Sri Lanka and concerned citizens requested for our input. We have focused on the disasters component of the EIA and the impacts on the climate system. Our contributions were through the national newspapers, popular news websites and social media. Eventually, the co-PI (Zubair) were requested to contribute to the Environment Committee of the one of the regulatory agencies – the Public Utilities Commission – and now functions as a member.