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Global Assessment of Sand and Dust Storms
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) - UNEP, 2016The specific objectives of the assessment are to:
1. Synthesise and highlight the environmental and socio-economic causes and impacts of SDS, as well as available technical measures for their mitigation, at the local, regional and global levels.
2. Show how the mitigation of SDS can yield multiple sustainable development benefits.
3. Synthesize information on current policy responses for mitigating SDS.
4. Present options for an improved strategy for mitigating SDS at the local, regional and global levels, building on existing institutions and agreements.
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Available online: Full text
United Nations Environment Programme ; World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Published by: UNEP ; 2016The specific objectives of the assessment are to:
1. Synthesise and highlight the environmental and socio-economic causes and impacts of SDS, as well as available technical measures for their mitigation, at the local, regional and global levels.
2. Show how the mitigation of SDS can yield multiple sustainable development benefits.
3. Synthesize information on current policy responses for mitigating SDS.
4. Present options for an improved strategy for mitigating SDS at the local, regional and global levels, building on existing institutions and agreements.
The report first presents the science of sand and dust storm processes, which forms a foundation for technical and policy options for mitigating SDS. Section 2 describes the causes of sand and dust storms, their direct and indirect drivers and their inter-relationships. Section 3 provides an overview of SDS state and trends including global and regional characteristics and anthropogenic sources. Section 4 provides an overview of the environmental, social and economic impacts of SDS, including those on human health. Section 5 describes initiatives for monitoring and prediction and warning systems for SDS. Section 6 gives an overview of technical measures available for mitigating SDS at different scales. Section 7 provides an overview and examples of current national, regional and global policy initiatives before synthesizing the information from the preceding sections into a framework for policy action for mitigating SDS. The report also includes an appendix of case studies of regional and national actions and studies aimed at monitoring and mitigating SDS.Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)ISBN (or other code): 978-92-807-3551-2
Tags: Sandstorm ; Dust storm ; Preventing and mitigating natural disasters
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SDS-WAS, 2015-001. Dust/ sand storms over Libya : Spatial distribution, frequency and seasonality, technical report
The climate of most of the coastal region of Libya can be classified as semi-arid, while that of the rest of the country is arid. Rainfall is erratic with extremely variable yearly rainfall amounts: a series of dry years may follow a year with adequate rainfall. Furthermore, monthly and seasonal totals are not homogenous and most precipitation occurs during winter months.
Dust and sand storms, the focus of the present study, are one of the main extreme weather phenomena that affect Libya. In this paper, spatial and temporal distribution, frequency and seasonality are studied and analyze ...
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Available online: Full text
Ali Salem Eddenjal ; World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Published by: WMO ; 2015The climate of most of the coastal region of Libya can be classified as semi-arid, while that of the rest of the country is arid. Rainfall is erratic with extremely variable yearly rainfall amounts: a series of dry years may follow a year with adequate rainfall. Furthermore, monthly and seasonal totals are not homogenous and most precipitation occurs during winter months.
Dust and sand storms, the focus of the present study, are one of the main extreme weather phenomena that affect Libya. In this paper, spatial and temporal distribution, frequency and seasonality are studied and analyzed. Normal frequency for the period 1961-1990 is computed and discussed on seasonal and annual basis. Finally, the annual frequency for the period 2000-2009 is computed and compared with the normal values in order to analyze temporal trends.
The analysis concludes that sand and dust storms occur in most stations almost the whole year. They are more frequent in spring, especially in April, with the highest annual frequencies observed at Tobruk airport (14.9 days), Hon (12.9), Sirt (11.2( and Ghadames (11.1). A net decrease of 30% is observed during the decade 2000-2009 when compared with the normal values for 1961-1990.Collection(s) and Series: SDS-WAS- No. 2015-001
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Sandstorm ; Dust storm ; Libya (State of) ; Synoptic weather station ; Lee depressions
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Available online: Full text
Published by: WMO ; 2015
Collection(s) and Series: SDS-WAS
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Sandstorm ; Dust storm ; Region II - Asia
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SDS-WAS. Regional Center for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe of the WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System : activity report 2010-2012
This report presents the Center’s activities in the 2010-2012 period. It reports on its efforts to build capacity in the region and to develop user services to reduction of adverse impacts of dust in countries heavily impacted by dust storms. There remain important SDS-WAS research issues to be considered and it is hoped that the Center will continue to play a coordinating role in addressing these. These research topics include the assimilation of observations in numerical dust prediction models; role of dust chemical/mineral composition on health and environment; direct and indirect interacti ...
Regional Center for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe of the WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System: activity report 2010-2012
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Available online: Full text
Enric Terradellas ; Jose María Baldasano ; Emilio Cuevas Agulló ; Barcelona supercomputing system
Published by: WMO, AEMET ; 2014This report presents the Center’s activities in the 2010-2012 period. It reports on its efforts to build capacity in the region and to develop user services to reduction of adverse impacts of dust in countries heavily impacted by dust storms. There remain important SDS-WAS research issues to be considered and it is hoped that the Center will continue to play a coordinating role in addressing these. These research topics include the assimilation of observations in numerical dust prediction models; role of dust chemical/mineral composition on health and environment; direct and indirect interactions of dust and the atmosphere; introduction of new generation of measurements (e.g. ceilometers) to better monitor dust process.
Collection(s) and Series: SDS-WAS
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Sandstorm ; Dust storm ; North Africa ; Middle East ; Region VI - Europe ; Region I - Africa ; Region II - Asia
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Establishing a WMO sand and dust storm warning advisory and assessment system regional node for West Asia : current capabilities and needs - Executive summary
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - WMO, 2013 (WMO-No. 1122)The report, Establishing a WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System Regional Node for West Asia: Current Capabilities and Needs, has been elaborated under the overall supervision of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Atmospheric Research and Environment Branch, with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for West Asia. Its aim is to assess the observation and prediction capabilities of sand and dust storms in West Asia and provide guidance in establishing a WMO Sand and Dust Storm (SDS) Warning Advisory and Assess ...
Establishing a WMO sand and dust storm warning advisory and assessment system regional node for West Asia: current capabilities and needs - Executive summary
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World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; United Nations Environment Programme
Published by: WMO, UNEP ; 2013The report, Establishing a WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System Regional Node for West Asia: Current Capabilities and Needs, has been elaborated under the overall supervision of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Atmospheric Research and Environment Branch, with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for West Asia. Its aim is to assess the observation and prediction capabilities of sand and dust storms in West Asia and provide guidance in establishing a WMO Sand and Dust Storm (SDS) Warning Advisory and Assessment System (WAS) Regional Node for West Asia, by presenting the essential actions and activities to be implemented.
Collection(s) and Series: WMO- No. 1122
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free), Hard copyISBN (or other code): 978-92-63-11122-7
Tags: Dust storm ; Early warning systems ; Western Asia ; Region II - Asia
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Establishing a WMO sand and dust storm warning advisory and assessment system regional node for West Asia : current capabilities and needs - Technical report
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - WMO, 2013 (WMO-No. 1121)Sand- and Dust Storms (SDS) are a major problem in West Asia, where their main characteristics – intensity, extent and frequency – are either not well known or have not yet been scientifically addressed. The growing concern of countries in the region about these phenomena has led to a number of high-level international meetings in recent years at which the creation of a system for SDS monitoring and forecasting has repeatedly been raised.
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Atmospheric Dust
Atmospheric dust storms are common in many of the world's semi-arid and arid regions and can impact local, regional, and even global weather, agriculture, public health, transportation, industry, and ocean health. This module takes a multifaceted approach to studying atmospheric dust storms. The first chapter examines the impacts of dust storms, the physical processes involved in their life cycle, their source regions, and their climatology. The second chapter explores satellite products (notably dust RGBs) and dust models used for dust detection and monitoring, and presents a process for fore ...
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Lectures presented at the forty-eighth session of the WMO Executive Council
Three lectures are presented on the following themes: advances in the prediction of dust and sandstorms; advances in numerical weather prediction in the tropics with particular emphasis on the forecast of tropical cyclones; and status of seasonal predictions.
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