The Study and Findings of Climatology in Nepal Essay -- Climae Environ

The Study and Findings of Climatology in Nepal In many areas in Nepal, the history of climatology only dates back to 1956. Around this time, the Indian Meteorological Department instituted stations in various areas around the country, which were eventually taken over by the Nepalese government in 1966. Having these stations in place has given scientists significant insight into the Nepalese climate. However, some of the Indian equipment remained in the Nepalese stations, and unfortunately many Indian findings vary significantly from the Nepalese records of the same areas. Therefore, some information is unreliable, coupled by the fact that not all stations have operated since the start of the program (Thyer, 645). However, there are other sources of NepalÕs climate history, like extracts from articles written by climatologists from other countries, like Japan, the US, Germany, and France (Thyer, 645). Nepal is a small country, land-locked between India and the Tibet region of China in South America. It is 900 kilometers from east to west, and 150 to 250 kilometers from north to south (Spence, 223). Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest mountain peaks in the world, most notably Mount Everest, which lies at 8,848 meters. In contrast, some of the areas that are situated lower in Nepal are only about eighty meters above sea level. Clearly, Nepal has much climate variation; in fact, the climate progresses from tropical to arctic within a 200-kilometer area from south to north (Agrawala, 12). There are five geographical regions in Nepal (though, sometimes the mountain regions are grouped together as one). The Terai plain is the southernmost strip, bordered to the north by the Himala... ... Works Cited Agrawala, Shardul, Vivian Raksakulthai, Marteen van Aalst, Peter Larsen, Joel Smith, and John Reynolds. Development and Climate Change in Nepal: Focus on Water Resources and Hydropower. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2003. Spence, Captain F.S. Himalayan Survey. The Geographical Journal. Vol.153, No.2. July 1987. Thyer, Norman. Looking at Western NepalÕs Climate. The University of Calgary. June 1985. Unknown-1. Introductions about Nepal: Geography and Climate. Himalayan Dreams.com http://www.himalayandreams.com/climate.html Unknown-2. Nepal Weather. Adventure Travel with iExplore. 2007. http://www.iexplore.com/dmap/Nepal/Weather+and+Climate Unknown-3. Kathmandu Climate and Weather. Globe Media Ltd., 2007. http://www.wordtravels.com/Cities/Nepal/Kathmandu/Climate