Abstract
This volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science presents a selection of papers that were given at the WMO/GEO Expert Meeting on an International Sand and Dust Storm Warning System hosted by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación in Barcelona (Spain) on 7–9 November 2007 (http://www.bsc.es/wmo).
A sand and dust storm (SDS) is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions and arises when a gust front passes or when the wind force exceeds the threshold value where loose sand and dust are removed from the dry surface. After aeolian uptake, SDS reduce visibility to a few meters in and near source regions, and dust plumes are transported over distances as long as thousands of kilometres. Aeolian dust is unique among aerosol phenomena: (1) with the possible exception of sea-salt aerosol, it is globally the most abundant of all aerosol species, (2) it appears as the dominating component of atmospheric aerosol over large areas of the Earth, (3) it represents a serious hazard for life, health, property, environment and economy (occasionally reaching the grade of disaster or catastrophic event) and (4) its influence, impacts, complex interactions and feedbacks within the Earth System span a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.
From a political and societal point of view, the concern for SDS and the need for international cooperation were reflected after a survey conducted in 2005 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in which more than forty WMO Member countries expressed their interest for creating or improving capacities for SDS warning advisory and assessment. In this context, recent major advances in research – including, for example, the development and implementation of advanced observing systems, the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms responsible for sand and dust storm generation and the development of global and regional dust models – represent the basis for developing applications focusing on societal benefit and risk reduction. However, at present there are interdisciplinary research challenges to overwhelm current uncertainties in order to reach full potential. Furthermore, the community of practice for SDS observations, forecasts and analyses is mainly scientifically based and rather disconnected from potential users. This requires the development of interfaces with operational communities at international and national levels, strongly focusing on the needs of people and factors at risk.
The WMO has taken the lead with international partners to develop and implement a Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS). The history of the WMO SDS-WAS development is as follows. On 12–14 September 2004, an International Symposium on Sand and Dust Storms was held in Beijing at the China Meteorological Agency followed by a WMO Experts Workshop on Sand and Dust Storms. The recommendations of that workshop led to a proposal to create a WMO Sand and Dust Storm Project coordinated jointly with the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW). This was approved by the steering body of the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) in 2005. Responding to a WMO survey conducted in 2005, more than forty WMO Member countries expressed interest in participating in activities to improve capacities for more reliable sand and dust storm monitoring, forecasting and assessment. On 31 October to 1 November 2006 in Shanghai, the steering committee of the Sand and Dust Storm Project proposed the development and implementation of a Sand and Dust Storm Warning, Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS). The WMO Secretariat in Geneva formed an ad-hoc Internal Group on SDS-WAS consisting of scientific officers representing WMO research, observations, operational prediction, service delivery and applications programmes such as aviation and agriculture. In May 2007, the 14th WMO Congress endorsed the launching of the SDS-WAS. It also welcomed the strong support of Spain to host a regional centre for the European/African/Middle East node of SDS-WAS and to play a lead role in implementation. In August 2007, the Korean Meteorological Administration hosted the 2nd International Workshop on Sand and Dust Storms highlighting Korean SDS-WAS activities as well as those of Asian regional partners. From 7–9 November 2007, Spain hosted the WMO/GEO Expert Meeting on SDS-WAS at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. This consultation meeting brought 100 international experts together from research, observation, forecasting and user countries especially in Africa and the Middle East to discuss the way forward in SDS-WAS implementation.
The general objective of the WMO/GEO Expert Meeting on an International Sand and Dust Storm Warning System was to discuss and recommend actions needed to develop a global routine SDS-WAS based on integrating numerical SDS prediction and observing systems, and on establishing effective cooperation between data producers and user communities in order to provide SDS-WAS products capable of contributing to the reduction of risks from SDS. The specific objectives were:
to identify, present and suggest future real-time observations for forecast verification and dust surveillance: satellite, ground-based remote sensing (passive and active) and in-situ monitoring
to present ongoing forecasting activities
to discuss and identify user needs: health, air quality, air transport operations, ocean, and others
to identify and discuss dust research issues relevant for operational forecast applications
to present the concept of SDS-WAS and Regional Centers
The meeting was organised around invited presentations and discussions on observations, modelling and users of the SDS-WAS.
C Pérez and J M Baldasano Editors
INTERNATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE
José María Baldasano (Chairman) – Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain Emilio Cuevas – Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Spain Leonard A Barrie – World Meteorological Organisation, Switzerland Young J Kim – Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Menas Kafatos – George Mason University, USA Xiaoye Zhang – Chinese Meteorology Administration, China Slobodan Nickovic – World Meteorological Organisation, Switzerland Carlos Pérez – Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain William A Sprigg – University of Arizona, USA Stéphane Alfaro – Université de Paris Val de Marne, France Ina Tegen – Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Germany Mohamed Mahmoud Eissa – Under-secretary of State for Researches, Egypt Sunling Gong – Environment Canada, Canada Emily Firth – GEO Secretariat, Switzerland
LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE
José María Baldasano – Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain Carlos Pérez – Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain Renata Giménez – Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain Emilio Cuevas – Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Spain Slobodan Nickovic – World Meteorological Organisation, Switzerland J M Marcos – Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Spain Manuel Palomares – Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Spain Xavier Querol – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain
