Geography

The Maldives is an archipelago of islands in a double chain of coral atolls comprising 1192 islands located along a North-South transect at 73 E longitude that spans 0.5S to 7 N. 199 islands are inhabited. The islands are grouped into 26 natural coral atolls, stretched over 860 km from north to south and the width varies about 80 to 120 km from east to west. The Maldives has a total reef area of 4,513 km2 (Naseer & Hatcher, 2004). The islands are small with only 33 exceeding a square kilometer in the area and 3 exceeding 4 square kilometers. Other islands along this undersea mountain ridge include the Lakshadweep islands of India to the North and the Chagos Islands to the South.

The analysis of rainfall along this transect is important as it provides insight into the Asian monsoon and the climate of the tropical Indian Ocean that complement studies over India and Sri Lanka. Rainfall in the Maldives is year-round and its study complements that of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall that extends from June to September. The population of 330,000 is also vulnerable to hydro-meteorological disasters and weather-related diseases such as dengue – the vulnerability is accentuated because of difficulties in transport and access from remote islands to more populated islands.

Reference

MEE, (2016). Second National Communication of Maldives to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: Ministry of Environment and Energy.