Climate Change Impacts in Myanmar

1.   Specific Climate Impacts
Social inequalities and discrimination create differences in vulnerability among people. It shapes their risks from climate change.  When water and food is not managed properly this effected the people. Climate change affects people in poverty more than those well off. In my countries region there is a key risk of flooding from the coast and well as the extreme amounts of precipitation during the rainy season.  Over time another risk would be the rising temperature and heat mortality. There are also risks of future droughts.

2. Regional Climate Projections

In Myanmar’s Region of Southeast Asia the temperature has been rising around 0.14 degrees Celsius per decade. Rainfall has also been increases with warmer and wetter years as the summer monsoons have been increasing. There is also a prediction of slightly increased temperature expected over all. With all the changes reported nothing is set in stone as the terrain of the region varies greatly.

3. Detailed Look at Future Climate

 In the region of Asia there has been consistently increasing warming temperatures. The warming is creating great variability in precipitation. Along with precipitation inconsistently water is not well managed for the people and with the population growth does not help. The increasing temperatures are also having an effect on food production. The higher the temperatures get the lower the yields will be for rice production. Areas like central Asia would actually do better from the increased temperature whereas some western regions would suffer. The sea levels are also rising which could affect the low level areas and cause faster erosion and disruption of farming. All of these factors would effect the human population, mainly dealing with food production and water resources.

4. Most Interesting Threat
I found the most interesting issue to be the flooding/precipitation in Myanmar’s region. It is also most closely associated with Myanmar. This is something that is constantly an issue in the region on a yearly basis. The flooding and storms making farming/ food production very difficult often times wrecking crops. Myanmar is right on the Bay of Bengal, which is a location for tropical cyclones. I chose this topic because these are some of the issues actually related to my country. These factors affect my countries people in the low lands where monsoons also occur. I found this interesting because this is not something I deal with living in Hawaii or my home back in California.

Severe Weather in Myanmar

1 How tornadoes form:

Tornadoes start out with a horizontal mass of air rotating over a flat surface. When thunderstorms are nearby they have large updrafts causing the horizontal rotating airmass to be come vertical. Once vertical the airmass forms a mesocyclone in the thunderstorm, the rotating becomes stronger it starts to move towards the lower part of the cloud. Once the mesocyclone touches the ground it is known as a tornado. In the US tornadoes generally travel from Southwest to NorthEast due to the Westerlies. Very occasionally Myanmar will experience a tornado but there have been no massive ones recently. The US on the other hand experiences an average of 1,252 tornadoes per year. I was unable to find an average amount for Myanmar as I have only been able to find two on record. Myanmar is quite near a tornado hot spot but just far enough away to experience very few near India and Tibet.

• http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology
•  http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/storm/tornadoes-asia.htm

2 Hurricanes :
For Hurricanes to form they require pretty specific conditions. To start there needs to be a lot of humidity in the air. Along with high humidity there also need to be consistent heating of the surface it forms over; so basically water that is consistently above 80 degrees fahrenheit. The last thing hurricanes need to form are cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. Hurricanes mainly above and bellow the equator. They are called hurricanes if they form in the East Pacific and Atlantic. If they form in the Indian ocean and near Australia they are considered Cyclones; and if the form in the third main region near China and Indonesia they are labeled as Typhoons. When hurricanes form near the US they generally travel from Florida up towards New York in a C direction path, making their way back towards Europe. On average around 10 hurricanes hit the US each year with only around 2 becoming major storms. Myanmar has a more active hurricane zone with around 20 occurring per year.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone_basins#North_Indian_Ocean
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_hurricane_season

Daily Weather in Naypyidaw

My Country’s Capital City is: ___Naypyidaw_____________

 My 3-day forecast will cover the following days: __11/4_____, _11/5__, _11/6_

b) The forecasted high for my first day is: _91_  the forecasted low is: _72_ Precip. percent: _40%__

c) The forecasted high for my second day is: _88    the forecasted low is: _73__ Precip. percent: _50%_

d) The forecasted high for my third day is: _80_ the forecasted low is: _71_Precip. percent: _90%_

e) The average pressure over the three day period was ___29.86____.

f) The pressure (circle one)     increased      decreased       stayed the same       over the three day period.

g) The average wind speed over the five day period was __2.666__.

h) The wind speed (circle one)    increased      decreased       stayed the same    over the three day period.

My countries capital is Naypyidaw, which is centrally located in Myanmar. I researched the weather forecast for November 4th through the 6th. On the 11/4 the high temperature was 91 degrees Fahrenheit and the low falling at 72; with a 40% precipitation. On the 5th temperatures drop slightly with the high at 88 and low at 73; the precipitation is slightly increasing to 50%. November 6th the weather changes the most with precipitation at 90% and a high of 80 and low of 71. Over these 3 days the pressure had no variation and stayed very constant around 29.86. The wind speed was also similar only varying by 1 or 2 mph and stayed around 3mph over 5 days.

2. With the information above I can tell there are scattered clouds all over Naypyidaw. There seems to be a higher concentration of colder clouds in blue surrounding the capital, these are further away than the grey clouds on the map. There are also some scattered low clouds on the outskirts of the capital in grey. The highest clouds in yellow are sitting just south of the capital, Naypyidaw. Currently there is no precipitation in the area. On the surface the of Naypyidaw, it is mainly city ground. There are mountains to the east with a large river as well. to the west there are a few tropical forest areas and small scattered lakes.

Myanmar sits in the bottom center of the map. There is little activity near by, but we can see the High pressures in the North near Russia helping create the low pressure Myanmar is near. The nearest front is a cold front headed towards southern Japan. The isobars show decently high winds speed closer to the low pressure near Myanmar.  

This map shows a more detailed view of the low pressure Myanmar is East of. The pressures of the isobars are quite low showing the high wind speeds in the area being circulated. There are no fronts close to Myanmar. 

Global and Local Winds in Myanmar

1. Location & Global Wind

a) Latitude and Longitude: __22.0000_N_ 96.0000 E___

b) Hemisphere:  Northern

c) In which of the three “atmospheric cell” does your country reside: __Hadley

d) In which wind belt does your country reside: ______North Easterly Trades____

e) In which direction does the wind actually blow :   West_

f) Is your country located near a main pressure belt (Low or High): __________High___

  g) If you answered yes to e) which one? If not why? _________________________________________               h) Is your country located near any “special” areas such as the doldrums, horse latitudes or the polar front? If yes, which ones? 

Myanmar is located above the equator at 22.0000 N, 96.0000 E, putting it in the Northern Hemisphere. With the longitude being 22.0000 Myanmar resides in the Hadley Cell. Since Myanmar sits in the Hadley Cell the winds are primarily Northeasterly Trade winds blowing towards the west. The country sits just bellow the horse latitudes near the High subtropical belt. Myanmar is not considered to be in the horse latitude because the horse latitudes around around 23.0000 N and Myanmar is just below that.

_____ 2. (2 points) Global Wind and Weather & MAP – Speculate how your country’s location with regard to the major cells, wind belts and pressure belts determines weather and climate.  Make sure to comment on WEATHER and on CLIMATE. Include a MAP of the global wind and pressure patterns in the portion of the post. (hint: countries located around 30 N or S will likely have deserts due to the subsiding air associated with the Hadley Cell. Ask yourself which way the wind is blowing (remember windward vs. leeward), if air is rising or sinking and how close your country is to the poles and the polar front).

As Myanmar is located in the Northern Hadley cell it receives trade winds. With the trade winds in the east I can assume the winds are stronger In May to October,  May is the start of the wet season. This is also when the south-west monsoon happens. Also being in a Subtropical high pressure zone there should be more rain in the summer months like May and June as well. The seasons are almost opposite from us in Hawaii. When December comes around it starts to cool off in Myanmar but also becomes much more dry.

3.

a) Does your Country have mountains: Yes

b) List 5 types of breezes or winds that are associated with mountains: Chinook, Foehn, Eddy, Katabatic, and Santa Ana's

c) Does/can your country experience any of these winds? If yes which? If not, why? Foehn winds in the center, in a rain shadow from the Arakan Mountains 

d) Does your Country have a coastline:_Yes, it sits in the Bay of Bengal

e) List the two breezes associated with coastlines: Land breezes and sea breezes

f) Does/can your country experience these breezes? If yes, which? If not, why? :Yes

Myanmar has numerous Mountain ranges and flat areas. There are five types of winds associated with mountains including chinook, Foehn, Eddy, Katabatic, and Santa Ana's. In Myanmar the Arakan Mountains help produce Foehn winds, which create rain shadows in a lot of the flat parts in central Myanmar. The West side of Myanmar has coastline with the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. As Myanmar has a monsoon season it experiences both sea and land breezes; the two breezes associated with coast lines. The sea breeze occurs when monsoon season happens and the winds shift.

http://www.weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine-in-Myanmar-Burma
http://www.selectiveasia.com/myanmar-holidays/weather