Impact of La Niña event in Southeast Asia region during the year 2011 from GPS observation

Abstract

This paper presents the impact of La Nina events in Southeast Asian based on the precipitable water vapor (PWV) data derived from GPS measurements. Using GPS PWV data over the period of 2011 from four selected stations in Malaysia (UMSK), Singapore (NTUS), Philippines (PIMO) and Indonesia (BAKO), we quantify the correlation between PWV and the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTa). Three cases of La Nina event has been detected. For the case of January–March, the GPS PWV and SSTa on a weekly basis observed with low correlation at all stations. A moderate correlation was observed for the case of November-December. In contrast, a good relationship for PIMO and BAKO was found for the case of September. From the data analysis, we can conclude that La Nina event had an impact to the Southeast Asia, primarily to the increase in atmospheric water vapor content, mainly at the end of 2011. This can lead to increase the rainfall and potential risk of flooding and landslides.