WWRP- GAW 1 SDS Workshop Seoul 7 August 2007 The WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning System: Helping Society Reduce Risk Through Research and Forecasts Leonard Barrie, Director & Slobodan Nickovic, Scientific Officer Atmospheric Research and Environment Programme World Meteorological Organization Geneva

WMO/AREP Aerosols & Dust Severe Storms Prediction Research & Observations O3O3 Weather Prediction & Nowcasting Air Quality CO 2

Operational Global Aerosol Observations Are Coming: So Far Only In Research Mode A best estimate of the global distribution of annual average tropospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) compiled by combining data from six satellites (operating for limited periods between 1979 and 2004). Observations for a region were selected using ground- based AOD observations as guidance ( courtesy of S. Kinne MPI, Hamburg, Germany ).

WWRP- GAW 4 SDS Workshop Seoul 7 August 2007 SDS Impacts Human Health (Asthma, infections, Meningitis in Africa, Valley Fever in the Americas) Aviation ( air disasters) Ground Transportation Improved Weather and Seasonal Climate Prediction Agriculture (negative & positive impacts) Marine productivity

Meningitis occurrence under dusty weather conditions Sahel region: within the meningitis epidemics area BSC DREAM model – 48 years of dust & weather reanalysis (Perez et al., 2007) Opportunity to study possible [dusty weather] [meningitis] correlation

WWRP- GAW 6 SDS Workshop Seoul 7 August 2007 Health Impacts: Valley Fever Endemic regions: located mainly in western hemisphere Source: Hector & Laniado-Laborin, 2002 Valley Fever spores transported by SDS storms Number of Valley Fever cases in Arizona

Respiratory Asthma Heart stress Dust PM 2.5 predicted at Univ. Arizona and student absentees, Lubbock, Texas; Yin et al, 2005 Health Impacts

…Endospores of Bacillaceae bacteria isolated from non- saline Japanese soil may be transported by dust events… Akinobu Echigo et al., 2003 Sample filter collected during African dust event in the US Virgin Islands Griffin et al., 2003 Transcontinental Transport of Micro-organisms Saharan dust carries bacteria and fungi across the Atlantic 10,000 microbes/(g of soil) 30 percent of the bacteria isolated from airborne soil dust are known pathogens, able to affect plants, animals, or humans (Griffin et al., 2003)

Impacts on Agriculture A Chinese farmer walks amid a heavy sand storm in Minqin County, northwest of China's Gansu Province April 10, A strong sandstorm hit northwest China on Monday, killing one person in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and compelling dozens of trains to halt for for safety reasons. 330,000-ton sand fell on Beijing. Sand covered about one-eighth of China from April 14 to 18 and about 330,000 tons of sand fell in Beijing on Sunday night.

SDS IMPACTS: Dust and Tropical Storms New evidence for a relationship between Atlantic tropical cyclone activity and African dust outbreaks Evan et al., 2006 JRL. Increased % of dust cover in the Eastern Atlantic has a decreased number of tropical cyclones. A hypothesis: Cyclogenesis and cyclone evaluation is reduced in the presence of sand and dust aerosol.

Saharan dust, rich in nitrogen, iron and phosphorus, helps to fertilize the huge plankton blooms that occur in the tropical eastern Atlantic. MODIS satellite true colour image of dust storm over tropical North Atlantic Ocean, March 2004.

Beijing Roof CMA March DUST WWRP Sand and Dust Storm Project Initiated in 2005 ~45 WMO Members are involved ~12 research or operational forecasts are available 2006 Shanghai SDS group resolved to focus on global coordination led by WMO. A WMO Sand and Dust Storm SDS Warning System Impacts on: human health, long range disease transmission, aviation, agriculture, Programmes in WMO exist to link a Sand and Dust Storm Warning System with stakeholders (e.g. GAW, WWW, WCP, Space, DPM) Barcelona November 2007: A WMO-GEO International Experts Meeting on SDS Implementation Annual Mean Aerosol Optical Depth

WWRP- GAW 13 SDS Workshop Seoul 7 August 2007 Objective Of The WMO SDSWS To enhance the ability of participating countries to establish and improve systems for forecasting and warning to suppress the impact of SDS By Establishing a coordinated global network of SDS forecasting centers delivering products useful to a wide range of users in understanding and reducing the impacts of SDS

Many SDS Countries

OBSERVATIONS: Satellites, Aircraft and Surface Networks NASA A-Train CALIPSO Aerosol Lidar GAW/AERONET Aerosol Remote Sensing Stations 18 UTC, 7 May hr forecast Forecast

European EARLINET Asian AdNet NASA Micro-pulse Lidar Network MPLNET LIDAR NETWORKS Global Coordination Through WMO GAW Aerosol Lidar Network (GALION)

Long Term Data Archives Reanalysis Forecast Models & Data Assimilation Cal/Val & Quality Assurance Globally Gridded SDS Air Concentration and Deposition Applications - Better Weather Forecasts - SDS Air Quality Warnings - SDS Agriculture Products - SDS Health Research - Marine Ecosystem Impacts - SDS Aviation Warnings - SDS Surface Transport Warnings - etc. etc. Observations Satellite Aircraft Surface (in situ, remote) Observation Optimization Real Time Data Delivery And Assimilation Air/Surface Exchange & Emissions Components: Integrated SDS Warning System System Inversion All Data Delivery

Next Step WMO/GEO Expert Meeting on an International Sand and Dust Storm Warning System 7-9 November 2007, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) Barcelona, Spain

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