Oman Observer
MUSCAT — Twenty five participants from Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Yemen, Iraq and Qatar are attending the 8th EUMETSAT Satellite Application Course (ESAC-VIII) being hosted by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Centre of Excellence in Oman which is co-ordinated by Meteorological Affairs Department, Directorate General of Meteorology and Air Navigation (DGMAN) and Sultan Qaboos University’s Remote Sensing and GIS Centre.
The course runs from February 11 to 22 and is sponsored by European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).
The programme is meant as an opportunity for the participants to learn more about EUMETSAT satellites, the theory of remote sensing, image processing and interpretation, as well as other applications in satellite meteorology and climate studies.
The workshop is conducted by Henk Verschuur, HansPeter Roesli, and Mark Higgins from EUMETSAT, Dr Juma al Maskari and Humaid al Badi from DGMAN, and Dr Andy Kwarteng from SQU. Additional lectures on practical applications and case history studies will be provided by guest lecturers from DGMAN and SQU.
Dr Fred Prata from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research will deliver a distance lecture from Kjeller, Norway on volcanic ash monitoring to the participants
The World Meteorological Organisation Centre of Excellence in Muscat was inaugurated February 2006.
It is a joint venture between Meteorological Affairs Department, DGMAN and SQU Remote Sensing and GIS Centre, and caters for the Arab speaking nations and countries in southwest Asia.
The Centre’s activities are supported by EUMETSAT.
Data and services from EUMETSAT’s satellites provide a significant contribution to the improvement of weather forecasting and to the monitoring of global and regional climate.
Some 180 weather forecasters and environmental scientists from the Arab and southwest Asian countries have been trained since the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Oman.
