Abu Dhabi: The UAE can forecast sand and dust storms at least 24 to 48 hours in advance, a senior official told Gulf News on Monday.
“The UAE being geographically a small country, heavy sand and dust storms do not occur here, unlike in some neighbouring countries where life comes to a standstill due to this phenomenon,” said Dr Abdullah Al Mandoos, Executive Director of the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) in Abu Dhabi.
The NCMS’s warning system is capable of finding any unusual patterns in advance, he said, on the sidelines of a meeting to discuss a regional programme to combat sand and dust storms (SDS.)
He said a few years ago a sand and dust storm caused flight diversions for a few hours in the UAE. Otherwise there was no major disruption, except minor incidents. However sand and dust storms affect the elderly and sick. So the medical sector is a major affected area in the country, he added.
The NCMS conducted a comprehensive ten-year-long study about dust in the UAE from 2001 to 2011 and its findings have been published in a book, Al Mandoos said.
Apart from local natural sources and human and industrial activities, sand and dust storms in the UAE originate from places across the border — such as Iraq (the origin of 60 per cent of SDS), the border region between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran (25 per cent), and the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia (15 per cent), according to the study.
The most common type of dust storm in the Middle East is due to northerly winds.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations have intensified efforts to combat SDS, another senior official said. WMO experts will be visiting GCC nations in the next two years, said Adel Deham, Chairman of the Permanent GCC committee for meteorology.
