ALM UNDP

Summary:

These country-level climate data summaries were prepared with funding from the UNDP National Communication Suport Programme (NSCP) and the UK government Department for International Development (DfiD) in order to address the climate change information gap for developing countries by making use of existing climate data to generate a series of country-level studies of climate observations and the multi-model projections made available through the WCRP CMIP3. A consistent approach has been applied for 52 developing countries in order to produce an 'off the shelf' analysis of climate data, and also make available the underlying data for each country for use in further research.

For more information: UNDP Climate Change Country Profiles

For each of the 52 countries, a report contains a set of maps and diagrams demonstrating the observed and projected climates of that country as country average timeseries as well as maps depicting changes on a 2.5° grid and summary tables of the data. A narrative summarises the data in the figures, and placing it in the context of the country's general climate.

A dataset containing the underlying observed and model data for that country, is made available for use in further research projects. The files are smaller and more manageable than the global fields made available by the PCMDI, and in text format which can be easily downloaded, read and manipulated.

Source: University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment. Accessed on 3 December 2009 at: http://country-profiles.geog.ox.ac.uk/.

For Mozambique:

Recent Climate Trends

Temperature

• Mean annual temperature has increased by 0.6°C since between 1960 and 2006, an average rate of 0.13°C per decade.
• This increase in temperature has been observed in the seasons DJF, MAM, and JJA only, at a rate of 0.15‐0.16°C per decade, but no discernible warming has been observed in the season SON.
• Daily temperature observations show significantly increasing trends in the frequency of ‘hot’ days1 and nights in all seasons.
• The average number of ‘hot’ days per year in Mozambique has increased by 25 (an additional 6.8% of days2) between 1960 and 2003. The rate of increase is seen most strongly in MAM when the average number of hot MAM days has increased by 3.2 days per month (an additional 10.2% of MAM days) over this period.
• The average number of ‘hot’ nights per year increased by 31 (an additional 8.4% of nights) between 1960 and 2003. The rate of increase is seen most strongly in DJF when the average number of hot DJF nights has increased by 3.6 days per month (an additional 11.6% of DJF nights) over this period.
• The frequency of cold days3 and nights have decreased significantly since 1960 in all seasons except SON.
• The average number of ‘cold ‘days per year has decreased by 14 (3.9% of days) between 1960 and 2003. This rate of decrease is most rapid in MAM when the average number of cold MAM days has decreased by 2.1 days per month (6.7% of MAM days) over this period.
• The average number of ‘cold’ nights per year has decreased by 27 (7.4% of days). This rate of decrease is most rapid in MAM when the average number of cold MAM nights has decreased by 2.9 nights per month (9.5% of MAM nights) over this period.

Precipitation

• Mean annual rainfall over Mozambique has decreased at an average rate of 2.5mm per month (3.1%) per decade between 1960 and 2006. This annual decrease is largely due to decreases in DJF rainfall, which has decreased by 6.3mm per month (3.4%) per decade.
• Daily precipitation observations indicate that despite observed decreases in total rainfall, the proportion of rainfall falling in heavy4 events has increased at an average rate of 2.6% and 5‐day annual rainfall maxima have increased by 8.4 mm per decade, with largest increases in the wet season, DJF.

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