Climate Change Impacts in New Zealand

The three major impacts attributing to climate change are physical systems, biological systems, and human & managed systems. Physical systems include things like glaciers, floods or drought, coastal erosion, and sea level rise. Biological systems include terrestrial ecosystems, wildfires, and marine ecosystems. Finally, human & managed systems include food production, and livelihoods, and economics.  In New Zealand, the major impact attributing to climate change is biological systems. One key risk is the result of more flooding and more intense damage being done to infrastructure and towns in New Zealand. Another key risk is an increase in coastal infrastructures and low sea level communities/ecosystems being damaged because of sea level rising. 

Flood in Whakatana, New Zealand 2004

Source

            With an increased westerly wind across New Zealand, it will lead to more rainfall and colder than usual temperatures in the western region of the country during the El Nino phase. During La Nina, New Zealand tends to expect more rainfall in the north and east, but warmer than usual temperatures. According to Dean Scott, over the last century, temperatures in New Zealand have increased a little less than 1 degree Celsius. It is expected that flooding and drought will double during the 21^st century. Because of the buffering effect from the oceans around New Zealand, temperatures should rise at 70% of the global rate. Most likely, the temperatures should continue to rise in New Zealand, but not at an alarming rate.

            As I’ve said before, temperatures are rising in New Zealand, but the main cause of it is the increase of greenhouse gas concentrations. Weather that leads to fires is expected to increase in many parts of New Zealand because of more frequent hot extremes. With recent extreme floods in New Zealand, it shows how vulnerable these ecosystems and communities are to the climate variability. The country has lost billions of dollars from these events and will lose more if they do not act fast in preparing for the events because the frequency of it is projected to increase! With sea level rise and more heavy rainfall, there will be an increase in erosion. This could have a serious negative impact on low elevation ecosystems damaging homes and other infrastructure. Native species will have to move and relocate themselves, but if some are not able to do so, it can lead extinction of a species. Planning for these extreme events are being adopted, but it’s not implemented as much as it needs to be. With climate change, some believe that it can provide more jobs relating to forestry. This is good because it can help with the economy and the people are working to protect the natural environment. The severity of these risks all depend if it’s large scale like temperature change that affects the entire country and not just coastal areas.

Climate Change Impacts Map

Source

            The most interesting issue to me in New Zealand is what’s happening to the natural ecosystems. I chose this issue because the native species are being affected, which relates to here in Hawaiʻi where a lot of native species are already extinct. In New Zealand, very few impacts to ecosystems have been directed to the cause of climate change. For example, the alpine trees in New Zealand have rarely changed course even though the temperature rose 1 degree Celsius over the past century. One of the projected impacts is that the alpine trees will be at risk from the increase growth of shrubs and more invasive species. For freshwater impacts, the cold-water fish are vulnerable to the water becoming warmer in the future and not being able to adapt. Also, with the expectancy of more flooding, the native river birds there are put in danger and have to relocate themselves. However, not all of the species are able to adapt like the native river birds that may be able to fly elsewhere and live. These freshwater fish can’t change the fact that the water is warming and move elsewhere because it affects the entire ecosystem. According to Dr. McGlone, New Zealand does not focus too much on climate change related things, but mainly focuses on pollution in freshwater ecosystems, threats from invasive species, and lessening the decline of native vegetation.

Severe Weather in New Zealand

           Tornadoes form in supercell thunderstorms, which are larger and more severe than regular thunderstorms.  Air starts to rotate because of the winds at different altitudes blowing at different speeds creating a wind shear. This horizontal rotating air is then lifted off the ground by the updraft of the thunderstorm. Once the horizontal rotating air is lifted nearly vertically, it is called a mesocyclone. The mesocyclone is then fully developed in the updraft. This can lead to a funnel cloud, which is right before a tornado forms. A tornado forms once the funnel cloud comes in contact with the surface.

In the United States, tornadoes usually travel from west to east or more specifically, southwest to northeast. This is the dominant direction for tornadoes because wind direction in general for the U.S is from west to east and this wind is called the Westerlies. Tornadoes are very scarce in New Zealand, but they do happen. The average number of tornadoes observed in the US per year is a whopping 1,000 (Source). The average number of tornadoes observed in New Zealand per year is 8, which is extremely low and good (Source). 

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology 

In the map above, you can see that New Zealand is in the hot spots of tornado activity. Although on the graph of tornado occurrences over the years showing an increase in annual tornado count, it may not be true. The reason being is that a hundred years ago, not too many people knew what tornadoes were.  Technology has now helped more people understand tornadoes then being able to report more of them.

The three main requirements for a hurricane is a warm ocean temperature more than 80 degrees F, deep warm ocean layer about 200 meters in depth, and coriolis to initiate the spinning of the air. They need to be between 5 degrees N and S. New Zealand does not satisfy these requirements because the water is too cold being fairly far away from the equator and they are too far south for the coriolis to be strong enough. The main hurricane formation regions are the Atlantic, East Pacific, Indian Ocean near Australia, off the coast of China and Indonesia. They are termed hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific; tropical cyclones in Australia; and typhoons in Indonesia. The general direction hurricanes travel is up the warm Gulf Stream because of the west to east flow of the Westerly winds and jet streams.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-recent/6248

Tropical cyclones (hurricanes) do happen in New Zealand, but are very scarce! On average, ~1.75 hurricanes hit the U.S every year (Source). I couldn't find the average number of hurricanes to hit New Zealand per year, but I did find that New Zealand is hit by an average of a little over one storm of tropical origin each year. This is not the same as a hurricane and is a weaker storm system (Source)

Daily Weather in New Zealand

My country’s capital city is Wellington. My 3-day forecast will cover the following days: Tuesday 11/4, Wednesday 11/5, and Thursday 11/6. The forecasted high for the first day is 57 degrees F and the forecasted low is 47 degrees F with 40% precipitation. The forecasted high for the second day is 54 degrees F and the forecasted low is 48 degrees F with 50% precipitation. The forecasted high for the third day is 53 degrees F and the forecasted low is 48 degrees F with 80% precipitation. The average pressure over the 3-day period was 30.05 inches. The pressure stayed the same over the 3-day period without any major changes. The average wind speed over the 3-day was 16.7 mph with the wind speed increasing over the 3-day period.

            In the satellite image below, it shows that there are clouds in the area, but are not directly over Wellington. There are mostly low cold clouds shown as the color blue with some low warm clouds shown as the color grey. There is no precipitation happening in Wellington or anywhere in New Zealand from what the map shows. Just north of Wellington is Belmont Regional Park and to the east is East Harbour Regional Park. There is a large lake more to the east of Wellington called Lake Wairarapa that leads into the Ruamahanga River that begins more north of the lake.

http://www.wunderground.com/

http://www.wunderground.com/

http://www.wunderground.com/

            New Zealand is located in an area of low pressure with 1016 mb. Moving West of New Zealand are higher pressures of 1024 mb. In this regional map, it shows a cold front just north of Wellington. Also, there is a stationary front northeast of New Zealand. This is a front with warm and cold airs that is moving slow or not moving at all.

http://www.intellicast.com/Global/Surface.aspx?region=nzeal

            In this map of Australia, you can see New Zealand at the bottom right. Just west of New Zealand is an area of high pressure. It also shows the same stationary front from the other map that starts from Australia and continues to New Zealand. All the areas of low pressure are over land while the areas of high pressure are over the ocean.

http://www.intellicast.com/Global/Surface.aspx?region=austr

Global and Local Winds in New Zealand

           The latitude of New Zealand is 41 degrees south and the longitude is 174 degrees east. It is located in the southern hemisphere. New Zealand resides in the Ferrell Cell, which is 30-60 N & S.  They experience the Westerlies that blow from west to east. New Zealand is not located in a main pressure belt. These westerly winds are very sporadic and do not blow as often as trade winds. The subtropical highs (25-30 N & S) and subpolar low (50-60 N & S) are the closest pressure belts to New Zealand, but are still pretty far off. New Zealand is located in a special area called the Roaring Forties where these strong west-to-east air currents are mostly caused due to the fact that there are very little landmasses to serve as windbreaks.

            Being located in the Ferrell cell, New Zealand does not always have constant winds blowing.  This makes for a moderate, maritime climate and weather for the country.  The sea breezes coming from the west are also known as westerlies that blow towards the poles. New Zealand is somewhat near the subtropical high-pressure belt, but not close enough to have a lot of deserts.  The northern part of New Zealand experience more rain in the winter while the southern part experience more rainfall in the summer. There are moderate rains and still lots of hours of sunshine because the rains are only over short periods of time.

http://www.agiweb.org/education/energy/wind/index.html

New Zealand has long mountain chains extending throughout the country. Five types of breeze and winds that are associated with mountains are valley breezes, mountain breezes, katabatic winds, foehn winds, and Chinook winds.   New Zealand experiences foehn winds with dry air moving down the leeward slopes making east of the mountains dry. Also, of course it will experience the valley breezes during the day and the mountain breezes during the night because there are mountains present. New Zealand is a giant island that has coastlines on every side. Two breezes associated with coastlines are sea breezes and land breezes. New Zealand can and does experience sea breezes during the day and land breezes during the night.

Typical Weather and Tourism in New Zealand

The winter solstice for New Zealand occurs on June 21^st. The average maximum temperature during June is 54 degrees F. On the other hand, the average minimum temperature during June is 43 degrees F. Rain is most likely to occur on the winter solstice because the temperatures are not getting too low. The mountain ranges is where the only snowing will occur because it is at higher elevations, so the air is will reach lower temperatures.

The summer solstice for New Zealand occurs on December 21^st. The average maximum temperature during December is 66 degrees F. On the other hand, the average minimum temperature during December is 54 degrees F.  Little to no rain is likely to occur on the summer solstice because it is the start of the warm season. There will be sunnier days as the snow from the previous months continues to melt.

            The spring equinox occurs on September 23^rd. The average maximum temperature during September is 55 degrees F. The average minimum temperature during September is 45 degrees F.  There will be less rain present with the days getting longer and the sun giving off more heat. You won’t be experiencing any glaze, sleet, or hail of any sort in New Zealand during the spring equinox.

            The autumn equinox occurs on March 20^th.  The average maximum temperature during March is 66 degrees F. The average minimum temperature during March is 54 degrees F. It begins get a little cooler in March and there would will be slight increase in rain as it approaches winter. The precipitation is still very minor in New Zealand on the autumn equinox.

            Out of the four seasons, summer would have to be the best season to travel to New Zealand. Reason being, is that there are so many activities to do. Some activities include hiking and surfing. A heads up on surfing is to have a wetsuit because even though the temperature on land is warm, it may not be the same for in the ocean. There are not any potential weather hazards in the summer season because the temperature is at its warmest and there is not a lot of rain, so no need to worry about thunderstorms.

http://wallpapers-diq.com/wp/42__Anaura_Bay,_Gisborne,_New_Zealand.html

Visit New Zealand, it’s beautiful any season!!!

Temperature Controls in the city of Wellington in New Zealand

In this blog post, I will be covering the topic of temperature controls for the city of Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington is located at the southern part of North Island and is close to the ocean. There will be the discussion of what temperature controls affect Wellington and also the ones that do not.

The capital city of my New Zealand is Wellington. It is geographically located at 41°16'S, 174°45'E in the Southern Hemisphere. The warmest month in my city is February with an average monthly temperature of 63 degrees F. The coldest month in my city is July with an average monthly temperature of 47 degrees F. Based on this information, the annual range of temperature for Wellington is 16 degrees F, which isn’t too major of a change. The website where I found this information is http://www.wellington.climatemps.com/

With Wellington being near the ocean, ocean currents are one of the temperature controls that impact the city. Wellington is sort of in a gulf where the ocean water comes in. The water there is not cold enough to have icebergs, but it is cold enough for people to be wearing wetsuits when in the water. The ocean currents keep it warmer than other places because in the mountains, there aren’t any oceans there.

Wellington is only about 400 feet above sea level and having the city stretch down to the ocean, it’s pretty easy to tell that altitude is a temperature control that does not affect the city. If it were 2000 feet up, then altitude would come into play as a temperature control.

From how the earth’s temperature as whole has been changing in the recent years, the predictions for future years in Wellington is that the temperature will increase. The increase won’t be a drastic change, but it will make a difference in the long run couple hundred years from now. Oceans are becoming warmer and because of that, it will affect Wellington’s temperature being that it is very closely located to the ocean. Wellington’s geographical position will not be affected by climate changes in the future except that there will be stronger winds predicted and more storms. The temperature control cloud clover & albedo will come into effect for Wellington when more storms become present.

After doing research on the city of Wellington, New Zealand, there are a good amount of temperature controls that affect the city. Being that the city is basically right next to the ocean, it plays a big factor for temperature control. Wellington does not have extreme fluctuation in seasons, which is why so many people choose to live there.