A Tour Through Maldives Meteorological Service

When it comes to the weather and climate, most of us think only about what is happening in the atmosphere. If we ignore the ocean, however, we miss a big piece of the picture. Covering over 70% of the Earth’s surface, the great oceans play a critical role in climate change.  

Since the inception of the World Meteorological Organization on March 23, 1950, the day marks the World Meteorological Day every year. This year’s theme – The Ocean, Our Climate and the Weather – celebrates WMO’s focus in connecting the ocean, climate, and weather within the Earth System. 

The ocean carries more than 90% of the world trade and sustains an estimated 40% of humanity living across 100 km of coastal areas around the globe. Today, the growing impacts of climate change are making ocean observations, research, and services more critical than ever before.  
Hence, this decade will be marked as the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). By deploying innovative and transformative ideas teamed with ocean sciences, WMO strives to understand the inextricable link between ocean, climate, and weather. 
 
A meteorological service was established in the Maldives in the early 1940s. It wasn’t until 2009 that Maldives Meteorological Service was officially formed, taking over the seismological and meteorological services in the Maldives. Presently, there are 5 stations across the archipelago operating 24/7 in addition to 20 automated weather stations and 3 tide gauges installed across the country which provides real-time data to MMS. The country became a member of WMO on June 1, 1978.  ]

The past year amidst a global pandemic has been the most challenging for the establishment since it was formed but nevertheless, they remained on top of their game in monitoring, evaluating. analyzing and providing up-to-date information to the public regarding the weather and safety measures to be taken accordingly.  

MMS actively announces any relevant updates to weather changes in the country over social media, informing the public regularly. In the past year, the organization has renewed the ISO certification of the Quality Management System as well. Moreover, significant progress has been made on upgrading the mobile application and website of MMS in order to make the customer interface user-friendly and able to provide information at par with the latest international standards.