The Director of CARE-C contributed to the first International Conference on Sand and Dust Storms

The Director of CARE-C at the Cyprus Institute, Prof Jean Sciare, was invited to be part of the Scientific Committee of the first International Conference on Sand and Dust Storms, which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 4th-6th of March, 2024.

Prof Jean Sciare delivered on this occasion a keynote speech on ‘The next generation of technologies and regional models to better monitor and predict sand and dust storms- Challenges and Opportunities’, during which he presented the current challenges in monitoring and predicting PM dust, new technologies, tools, methods, and models to better monitor and predict PM dust, as well as new opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Emphasis was given on the forthcoming scientific collaboration between CARE-C and the Saudi National Center for Meteorology (NCM) which will aim to monitor PM sources within eight (8) atmospheric supersites geographically distributed over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to better assess the role of desert dust on air Pollution (mass contribution, seasonality).

The conference was organized under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Sand and Dust Storm Warning Regional Center, and brought together researchers, leaders and technical experts from different countries and organisations across the region.

The conference emphasised the crucial importance of extending the reach of NCM-WMO regional centres, in order to cover all Middle East nations, recognizing their heightened vulnerability to dust storms stemming from resource depletion.

You can watch Prof Sciare’s speech here