Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
8.6
Early Warning Information Dissemination
An early warning message is only as effective as its method of delivery and interpre-
tation. There are many ways to communicate messages with today's technology
including text message alerts, national and regional news broadcasts, website updates,
email alerts and broadcasted warning signals through small communities. (Methods
and challenges of early warning communication are further discussed in later chap-
ters.) Most commonly, weather networks observe dust conditions (Shao et al.
2011
)
and disseminate the information (Davidson et al.
2003
). The World Meteorological
Organisation (WMO) has operated one of the most extensive forecasting networks
since 2007. As described on the WMO website, the WMO Sand and Dust Storm
Warning Network (SDS-WAS) is comprised of two nodes covering four regions: (1)
Africa, the Middle East and Europe and (2) Asia (
WMO undated
).
Technological advances have encouraged information dissemination through
websites and cell phone text messages. For example, the website for the Asia/Central
Pacifi c Regional Centre with the SDS-WAS has a colour index with accompanying
explanations to describe the severity of an impending dust event and China, which
is included in this region, uses this information to display symbols to the public
indicating time until a dust storm will occur (Zhang et al.
2007
; WMO
2013
). Text
message, or SMS, warnings can also be used to instantly alert widespread popula-
tions of impending danger. Since 2012, the US NWS has supported a free Wireless
Emergency Alert (WEA) service that delivers alerts to WEA-enabled mobile phones.
The alerts warn of many types of hazards, including dust storms, and also offer sug-
gestions of how to handle the situation, such as to avoid travel (NWS and NOAA
2013
). However, with both websites and text messaging, if a vulnerable region does
not have supporting infrastructure for Internet and cell phone alerts, then alternative
means of communicating early warning information need to be developed.
8.7
Future Outlook
To increase the effectiveness of current forecasting and early warning initiatives,
and to make future ones successful, some steps need to be taken. Primarily, several
areas of research (Table
8.1
) need to be addressed. The use of meteorological data
and remote sensing information from satellite imagery could be used to complete
much of this research (Stefanski and Sivakumar
2009
; Urban et al.
2009
; Kimura
2012b
). In addition, increased awareness about forecast availability and education
pertaining to how to interpret a forecast is needed to better prepare vulnerable popu-
lations and work towards mitigating the effects of dust events.
E f fi cient and effective early warning systems, used not only to broadcast safety
information for local populations, but also to predict drought conditions to prevent
human-induced dust storms, can become more mainstream for current and future
dust events. Global systems are also needed to address transboundary dust movements
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