Overview of WMO Activities on Sand and Dust Storms Robert Stefanski Agricultural Meteorology Division Alexander Baklanov Atmospheric Research & Environment Branch

Global Scale Sand and Dust Storm Problem Atmospheric Aerosol Eddies NASA Animated Map: 10km Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite (GEOS-5) AOD: Red colour – Dust Aerosols http://geo-pickmeup.com/atmospheric-aerosol-eddies-nasa-animated-map/

Summary of Sand and Dust Impacts Human Health (asthma, infections, meningitis in Africa, valley fever in the America’s) Agriculture (negative & positive impacts) Marine productivity Aviation ( air disasters) Ground Transportation Improved Weather and Seasonal Climate Prediction Industry (Semi-conductor)

Impacts – Crops & Livestock Loss of plant tissue and reduced photosynthetic activity as a result of sandblasting Burial of seedlings under sand deposits Delayed plant development Increased end-of-season drought risk Causing injury and reduced productivity of livestock

Impacts – Soil Productivity Losses Loss of the most fertile fraction (K and P) of the topsoil and can be transported long distance Increases soil erosion and accelerates the process of land degradation and desertification (UNCCD)

Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) supported by WMO World Weather Research Programme Mission To establish a coordinated global network of SDS research & forecasting centres and to enhance the ability of countries to deliver timely and quality sand and dust storm forecasts, observations, information and knowledge to users through an international partnership of research and operational communities

WMO SDS-WAS System Components 18 UTC, 7 May 2012 30-hr forecast Forecast Models NASA A-Train MODIS CALIPSO & Geostationary Satellite IR Obs GAW/AERONET/SKYNET Surface-based AOD European PM10 GALION Surface-based LIDAR

Dust forecasting systems

Brief WMO SDS-WAS History 2004: Beijing, China: International Symposium on SDS & WMO Experts Workshop on SDS. 2005: More than 40 Member countries indicated interest to cooperate in SDS-WAS. 2007: the 15th WMO Congress endorsed launching of the SDS-WAS. 2008: the 60th EC of WMO welcomed the establishment of the three SDS-WAS Regional Nodes. 2009 - : A series of workshops: Spain, Niger, Turkey, China, Japan, Korea, Iran, Serbia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Morocco, Jordan, ... 2014: Opening the Barcelona Dust Forecast Centre - 1st WMO Operational Dust Prediction Centre 2017: Approved the Asian Dust Forecast Centre - hosted by CMA, Beijing 2nd WMO Operational Dust Forecast Centre 9

SDS-WAS Regional Nodes Regional Node for Asia, coordinated by Regional Centre hosted by the CMA (Beijing, China) Regional Node for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe (NA-ME-E), coordinated by Regional Centre as a consortium of the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) Regional Node for Pan-America hosted by the Arizona University (USA) and the Caribbean Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Barbados (in progress).

SDS-WAS Regional Nodes 3 Regional Nodes, 15 organizations providing forecast Regional coordination: Regional Steering Group (for Regional Nodes) Global Coordination: Global Steering Committee Strategic Plan: SDS-WAS Science & Implementation Plan for 2015-2020 Implementation: Trust Fund through WMO WWRP/GAW Pan-American Asian N Africa- Mid East-Europe

SDS-WAS Regional Node for West Asia Joint WMO-UNEP: Report on the Establishment of WMO SDS-WAS Regional Node for West Asia (2013) Needs: Higher resolution SDS forecast and observations http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/wwrp/new/documents/1121_SDS_Technical_Report_en.pdf http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/wwrp/new/documents/FINAL_WMO_SDS_WAS_Exec_Summary.pdf

Global Assessment of Sand and Dust Storms

WMO Airborne Dust Bulletin En: https://library.wmo.int/opac/index.php?lvl=bulletin_display&id=3902 Fr: https://library.wmo.int/opac/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=19879 Ar: https://library.wmo.int/opac/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=19881 Ch: https://library.wmo.int/opac/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=19883

SDS-WAS Capacity Building TRAINING COURSES Accra Addis-Ababa Ankara Antalya ** Barcelona ** Casablanca ** Istanbul Muscat ** Niamey Ouagadougou VISITORS FROM Iraq Romania Turkey

SDS-WAS Dissemination WMO SDS-WAS websites and reports: http://www.wmo.int/sdswas https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/focus-areas/environment/sand-and-dust-storm SDS-WAS Regional Nodes and Operational Forecasts: for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe: http://sds-was.aemet.es; for Asia: http://eng.nmc.cn/sds_was.asian_rc; for the Americas: http://sds-was.cimh.edu.bb/ Operational Barcelona Center: http://dust.aemet.es/ WMO SDS-WAS Video Protecting People from Sand and Dust Storms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYXcpYYlm8I

Potential Agricultural Applications of a SDS-WAS Tactical Applications (Warnings) Near-term alerts for agricultural communities to take preventive action such as harvesting maturing crops (vegetables, grain), sheltering livestock, and strengthening infrastructure (houses, roads, crop storage) for the storm.

Potential Agricultural Applications of a SDS-WAS Strategic Applications Improved SDS climatologies for long-term planning for agricultural communities such as: Planning windbreaks and shelterbelts (direction, size, etc) Planning infrastructure and crops Post-storm crop damage assessments.

Potential Agricultural Applications of a SDS-WAS Research Areas Forecasting locust movement Improving Soil / Wind Erosion and Land Degradation Models Plant and animal pathogen movement and the relationship of SDS to disease outbreaks Archive of SDSWAS products (Forensic Use)

Sugarcane Rust (June 1978) Cameroon to Dom. Rep. Coffee Leaf Rust (1970) Angola to Bahia, Brazil Wheat stem Rust (1969) S. Africa to Australia Source: Brown and Hovemoller Science. July 26 2002.

Other Diseases Foot and Mouth Disease (livestock) Soybean Rust (South America to North America) Wheat Stem rust (ug99) Policy makers need to know source of disease outbreaks (airborne or human transport) to take actions to minimize risk

Final Thoughts on SDSWS Components of Effective Warning Systems Monitoring Forecast Advisory Potential Products should include Areal Extent Severity Duration Potential Impacts

Final Thoughts on SDS-WAS Other useful products/information: Weather Patterns associated with SDS Meso-scale features that ignite storms Vertical Data useful Archives of data and forecast products Group models by capability for users For operational public warning systems, model output are guidance not end-Products (Current Wx Forecasting) Need another level (Met Services?) between Models and Users

Thank you rstefanski@wmo.int