MUSCAT -- As many as 45 participants from GCC, Arab and African countries are attending the training program on "Satellite and Ground Observation and Modelling of Atmosphere Dust", organised by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Center of Excellence, Oman (coordinated by the Meteorological Services Department, Directorate General of Meteorology and Air Navigation -- DGMAN) and the Remote Sensing and GIS Center at Sultan Qaboos University. The training is organized in conjunction with European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), WMO, and WMO Sand and Dust Strom Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) Regional Center for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe. This is the third in the series of training courses on WMO SDA-WAS products and the first to be held in the Middle East.
A communique from the Remote Sensing & GIS Centre at SQU says that large amounts of sand and dust are continually raised from bare, dry soils and transported downwind affecting regions hundreds to thousands of kilometres away. "For countries in and around arid regions, such as in the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, airborne dust represents a significant threat. Dust storms cause soil loss and damage to crop and plants, thereby reducing agricultural productivity. Additionally, it has negative impact on human health, causing respiratory and cardio-vascular problems, eye infections, and in some regions, serious diseases such as meningitis. The main effects on the economy are related to reduced visibility, affecting aircraft and road transportation, and to polluted air, affecting semiconductor industry or solar power plants. When deposited onto soil or ocean surfaces, mineral dust can have beneficial effects on certain ecosystems, such as Central and South American rain forests, which get most of their mineral nutrients from the Sahara desert, and iron-poor ocean regions, where the availability of this metal allows increased biomass growth. Suspended dust particulate plays an important role in different aspects of the climate system such as radiation budget, cloud microphysics or atmospheric chemistry".
Dr Andy Kwarteng, Director of the Remote Sensing & GIS Centre at SQU, said that the course is attended by meteorologists, public health managers, air quality and environmental scientists from different countries. Course topics include dust cycles and impacts, ground and satellite observation of dust, dust prediction models, dust-climate interactions, dust variability, The course is conducted by trainers from WMO, EUMETSAT and local experts on aerosol observation and modeling and coordinated by Enric Terradellas, Technical Coordinator for WMO SDS-WAS Project. The training course which commenced on December 8 will continue until 16.
© Oman Daily Observer 2013
