Mineral Dust

Operational daily dust forecast at 72 hours of the BSC Dust Models for global and regional domains. The BSC Dust Daily Forecast contributes to the SDS-WAS dust forecast model intercomparison and the Barcelona Dust Forecast Center. At the global scale, the model contributes to the International Cooperative for Aerosol Prediction (ICAP) Multi Model Ensemble. Our dust forecasts are used to support different communities as air quality national management officers in Southern Europe (i.e. Spain, Portugal and Italy), private aviation stakeholders providing services in Northern Africa and Middle East (see our ongoing collaboration with Wilkens Weather Technology) as well as experimental research communities as the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET).

The World Meteorological Organization's Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) -Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe Regional Center collects and distributes in-situ and remote-sensing dust relevant observations, daily experimental dust forecasts from several organizations around the globe (that are used to generate a multi-model product), information and training material, and news for the SDS-WAS community. The SDS-WAS Dust Research Center is jointly managed by the BSC and the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET) and has the aim to develop, refine and provide a basis for distributing to the global community products that are useful to assess and reduce the adverse impacts of SDS on society and nature.

The Barcelona Dust Forecast Center is the first World Meteorological Organization’s Regional Specialized Meteorological Center focussing its activities on Atmospheric Sand and Dust Forecast. It is jointly managed by the BSC and the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET). The Center provides daily dust forecast at 72 hours based on our in-house BSC dust model which runs operationally 7 days a week, 365 days a year.