Thesis from WMO Fellowship Division
Thesis from WMO Fellowship Division
For several decades, through its fellowship programme, WMO has trained many experts from developing countries. Highly commendable theses/dissertations have been prepared by these fellows in partial fulfillment of requirements for their post-graduate studies.
Given the limited information available to experts and students alike on issues related to meteorology, hydrology and allied disciplines we wish to share as much research related information as possible, through the WMO online library, on the work of the postgraduate fellows. Hence, this online dissemination of excerpts of theses/dissertations prepared by WMO fellows.
We hope readers will find the materials useful. Should you have any inquires, please contact fel(at)wmo.int (Please replace (at) by @).
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Sorted by Year of publication descending (Year of publication descending) Add the result to your favourites Refine your searchStorm surges and coastal erosion in Bangladesh - State of the system, climate change impacts and 'low regret' adaptation measures
The effects of global environmental change, including coastal flooding stemming from storm surges as well as reduced rainfall in drylands and water scarcity, have detrimental effects on countries and megacities in the costal regions worldwide. Among these, Bangladesh with its capital Dhaka is today widely recognised to be one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change and its triggered associated impacts. Natural hazards that come from increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to increase as climate changes, each seriously affecting agriculture, water & fo ...EnglishStream flow modeling in the Nacunday River Basin (Paraguay, South America) using SWAT model: a dissertation
Paraguay is a very rich country in water resources, owing to generous rainfall regime, very favorable weather conditions and has significant water resources development potential. To promote planning and development of water resources in the country, systematic studies are required to understand stream flow behavior. The present study is therefore, undertaken to study the stream flow behavior in the Nacunday river basin using the SWAT Model. The Nacunday river basin is predominantly agricultural watershed with soybean as main crop which is grown under no tillage practices and can be considered ...EnglishLesotho Climate Change Projections
Lesotho is a small mountainous country is southern Africa. Lesotho is a temperate region that has four distinct seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. It is among countries that are vulnerable to climate change impacts. As such, future climate projections are vital to the country. Lesotho has submitted her first and the only report (FNC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2000. The report includes vulnerability and adaptation (V&A) assessment developed using the first generation low resolution Global Climate Models (GCMs) output. This study was aimed ...EnglishVerification of mobile weather alert forecasts over Lake Victoria in Uganda
Several studies suggest that weather patterns over Lake Victoria are highly variable, with wind gusts in the vicinity of thunderstorms suddenly thrashing up high waves capable of capsizing small fishing boats. In order to improve safety on the lake, the Mobile Weather Alert (MWA) service is implemented by utilising mobile phone technology to provide daily weather forecasts that reduces vulnerability of fishermen to weather hazards. This service was developed as a pilot scheme under the WMO Severe Weather Forecast Demonstration Project (SWFDP). An evaluation of MWA forecasts over Lake Victoria ...EnglishCapturing Recent Climate Variations in the Extreme Southern Caribbean with Projections for the Near and Medium Terms: A Downscaling Approach for Trinidad and Tobago
To mitigate adverse effects of future extremes in climate in the extreme southern Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago require a sound understanding of the science of the climate, along with realistic and region specific projection outputs; in order that an effective response can be provided by respective regions. As a step towards achieving this, downscaling GCM outputs through RCMs is useful at the local and regional scales because it can provide finer detailed and more user friendly output required for planning. Moreover, it is an avenue through which more profound understanding of the ...EnglishSouthern African rainfall physical mechanisms and projected Climate Change with a special focus on Zimbabwe
Aimed at understanding the physical mechanisms driving rainfall systems in southern Africa with a particular focus on Zimbabwe, this research is a step towards improving the representation of those systems in Climate Models leading to improved Rainfall projections. Because RCMs such as PRECIS are good at resolving subtle systems which modify local climates and possibly mask the anticipated anthropogenic induced (rainfall) change, its use in regions such as Zimbabwe that have complex terrain is crucial. Understanding the physical mechanisms that control rainfall in the current climate also prov ...EnglishProjection of crop yield in Bhutan under climate change using PRECIS regional climate model
Bhutan is classified as one of the forty-eight least developed countries with farmers comprising more than two-thirds of its total population. The agriculture sector, which is a significant contributor to the country’s gross domestic product, has been vulnerable to extreme climate events in recent decades. As an effort to address the potential challenges it will face under climate change, this thesis projects the yields of three primary crops grown in Bhutan, rice, wheat and maize, for the period 2030 to 2050, based on climate projections by the PRECIS regional climate model.
In this st ...EnglishBivariate analysis and synthesis of flood events for the design of hydraulic structures – a case study for Argentina
A bibliographic review of the state of art of flood estimation techniques shows the importance of studying floods as multivariate events. The aim of this work is to discuss whether a multivariate analysis is necessary for designing dams or for assessing the adequacy of spillways belonging to existing dams. A multivariate approach offers a range of possible events associated to a joint return period, which can be used in a design stage. The multivariate criterion includes information related with the dependence structure linking the flood variables. This dependence is involved in the generation ...EnglishAssessment and modelling of climate variability and change in Cameroon (central Africa)
Cameroon is located on the west coast of central Africa. It is home to about twenty millions inhabitants relying upon rain‐fed agriculture for food security. With the increasing pressure of climate change, other activities for sustainable development such as transport, energy, water, livestock and urban settlement are also facing an increasing threat due to extreme climate and weather events. In some cases today’s climate extremes are expected to become tomorrow’s ‘normal’ weather. This assumption stresses the need of understanding the past, the current and hopefully to project local climate b ...EnglishDiagnosis of September-November Droughts/Floods over Uganda and the associated circulation anomalies
Uganda has experienced a number of extreme weather and climate events in the form of floods and droughts. In a number of cases, flood events associated with heavy rainfall have been followed immediately by droughts that tend to persist for several seasons. These events have always had devastating impacts on various sectors of the country's economy. The impacts include destruction of infrastructure, loss of life and property and many other far reaching socio-economic impacts. The impact of these extreme events can be greatly reduced through good understanding of previous climatic events and the ...EnglishIntercomparison of Models - Verification of Moderate Rainfall over Nigeria in the Summer of 2010
The science of weather forecasting is only as good as its ability to produce results. Models are some of the tools meteorologists have come to depend on to help them in forecasting and the dependability as well as reliability of a model is measured by its ability to track and forecast ahead of time a given event. Thus this study looked at the inter comparison of four models namely; GFS, ECMWF, UKMET and METEOFRANCE models, three of which are mostly used by the forecast offices of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.EnglishEmpirical analysis of temperature change in Sri Lanka during the last 140 years (1871-2010)
Sujeewa Kanda Durage; Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology ; College of Science - University of the Philippines, 2011Climatologists and meteorologists in Sri Lanka observe that ground temperature measurements in many weather stations have risen and people are experiencing more episodes of warmer weather. Sri Lanka is a country vulnerable to warming or rise in temperature; in particular its economic development is mostly dependent on agriculture, which can be severely affected by large and abrupt changes in temperature. This study was carried out to detect and characterize changes in surface temperature in the last 140 years, as a precursor of climate change in Sri Lanka. Daily maximum and minimum temperature ...EnglishDiagnosis of the relationship between weather variables and occurances of measles in Soroti and Serere districts
This study aims to investigate the relationship between weather variables and the occurrence of measles in Soroti and Serere districts in the Teso sub-region of North –Eastern Uganda. Monthly data of patients with measles from 1995 to 2010 was collected from the District Health Office, Soroti. Monthly data for rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity (at 0600 and 1200 UTC), and wind run for the same years was collected from the Department of Meteorology, Kampala. The methodologies included assessing the seasonal pattern of measles outbreak as well as relating the w ...EnglishClimate Prediction and Monitoring for Tunisia
Ben Mansour Maher; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); National Center of Environnement Prediction (NCEP) - NOAA, 2011"To better understand the variability of rainfall in Tunisia, it was evident to treat series of data of around tens years. And to do this I used a set of Fortran programs and scripts Grads to represent a historic of 30 years of daily rainfall over the period 1978-2007 from 12 stations of the observing networks in Tunisia."EnglishAssessement of selected global models in short range forecasting over West Africa: case study of Senegal
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; ANAMS ; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - WMO, 2011Severe weather events in West Africa are associated mainly with meso-scale thunderstorms and squall lines. Forecasting such severe weather to reduce the risk of hazards is one of the challenges faced by many met services. However, the recent progress in the area of numerical weather prediction has enabled some countries to forecast these events in a better way.
Due to lack of capacity, many of the West African countries were not able to use numerical weather prediction systems effectively in their day to day forecasting activities. The CPC/African Desk has been playing big role in buil ...English
