World Meteorological Day :
‘The Sun, The Earth and The Weather’ was the theme of the World Meteorological Day (WMD) which was celebrated yesterday, March 23.
The Department of Meteorology (DoM) celebrated WMD with a seminar for schoolchildren at the department auditorium on Friday, March 22.
The chief guest, Minister of Public Administration and Disaster Management, Ranjith Madduma Bandara outlined the importance of meteorology. The ability to forewarn would save lives and material/property, he said.
Madduma Bandara said the Meteorology Department was one of the government departments having officers with high academic achievement and stressed the need to use modern technology in the department. He said he hoped to upgrade the instruments used by the DoM, for better forecasting and disaster preparedness. Director of Meteorology, A. L. K. Wijemannage delivering the keynote address outlined the importance of harnessing solar energy to develop the country. Sri Lanka being a tropical country could benefit much more from the sun, the main energy source of the earth, he said.
In a pre-recorded message for the occasion, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas stressed the importance of renewable energy to arrest the greenhouse effect and climate change. While, satellite measurements taken over the past 30 years show that the Sun’s output of energy has not increased, proving that it is not the cause of global warming, if the world continues with greenhouse gas outputs on a business as usual terms, the temperatures would increase by three to five degrees Celsius by the end of the Century, he said.
The top four warmest years of the globe were the past four years. Taalas called for the governments to commit themselves to the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which aims to hold the average temperature increase below two degrees Celsius.
Director General of Meteorology A.K. Karunanayake delivered the welcome address while three lectures, themed ‘Measurement of Solar Radiation; The Sun, The Earth’, ‘The Climate and the New Year’; and ‘The Sun, The Earth and The Weather’ were delivered by Meteorological Officer N. A. Meththasinghe, Director, Meteorology A.G.M.M. Wimalasooriya and Deputy Director Meteorology, K.D. Sujeewa.
The event was attended by government officials, representatives of private organisations, environment and climate activists and schoolchildren.