6th INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON SAND/DUSTSTORMS AND ASSOCIATED DUSTFALL

The Sixth International Workshop on Sandstorms and Environmental Impact Assessments will be held in Glyfada-Athens, Greece, on 7-9 September 2011. The workshop is organized and partially sponsored by the University of Athens, Department of Physics, Atmospheric Modeling, and Weather Forecasting Group.

Its theme is "Recent Advances our knowledge on sand and dust storms and their impacts on weather and climate". Our goal is to bring international research activities/outcomes together and to discuss how to enhance our understanding of dust storm mechanisms and their links and feedbacks between desert dust, radiation, clouds and water budget. The meeting will address R&D and operational issues concerning the analysis and forecast of dust storm phenomena as well as the crucial question of environmental solution and service. One of the major objectives is to bring scientists working on dust from Europe, Asia and USA together, exchange information on hot research topics.

The Workshop will consist of plenary talks, round table discussions and poster presentations. A broader view of the aerosols and/or dynamical processes affecting the broad swath from North Africa through the Middle East to South and East Asia, and expanding into impacts on surrounding oceanic regions, and possibly tele-connection to other parts of the world will be provided. As such, the Workshop will be unique and very up to date in the era of accelerating climate and environmental changes.

The scope of the workshop includes studies using modeling, measurements and analyses (in situ and remote sensing) in the following topical areas:

• Source definition and properties of dust
• Dust particle size and composition issues
• Aging of transported dust-mixture with anthropogenic pollutants
• Aerosol-radiation-cloud-precipitation interactions
• Dust and climate interactions
• Dust and ocean productivity
• Modeling and prediction
• Impact assessments

The deadline for abstracts (~200 words) is July 31, 2011. Abstracts should be submitted electronically to Prof. George Kallos, University of Athens at the e-mail address dust.wshop@mg.uoa.gr.

Glyfada is a scenic coastal suburb of Athens (SE), known for its up market cafes, restaurants, boutiques and cosmopolitan summer clubs. It is located 20 km from downtown Athens with good public transportation from/to the airport and the historic center of Athens (greekhotel.com link). The workshop will be organised at "Oasis Hotel Apartments" (Poseidonos Ave. 27, 16675 Glyfada, Athens tel. +30-210-8941662, +30-210-8941555, fax +30-210-8941724, email: oasis@ath.forthnet.gr, web: www.oasishotel.gr). The hotel has a limited number of rooms available for the workshop. Please make booking directly to the hotel. In case all the rooms are booked the hotel reception will arrange booking at other hotels nearby with the same terms and conditions. A special arrangement is made for the workshop participants that includes in the room breakfast, lunch and free wifi at the price of 95 euros per night. Of course the alternative option for the basics as defined in www.booking.com is valid but not recommended. The location of the hotel is approximately 600 meters from the center of Glyfada on the Poseidonos Ave, direction towards Piraeus. The hotel is easily accessible from the airport. Just take bus X96 for Piraeus and ask for the stop in front of the hotel. The bus is every 20 minutes and the trip lasts ~30 minutes. By taxi it costs ~35 euros. In case you take taxi, in the ~35 euro price the airport and luggage charges are included and single tariff is applied if it is before midnight.

A fee of 150 EURO will be charged at the time of registration for the part of the expenses not covered from University of Athens. These expenses will cover the workshop room, coffee breaks and the official banquet that will be held on 8th of September (Thursday). You can prepay for your registration through paypal:

The supporting organizations for the workshop tentatively include the following: University of Athens, Hellenic National Meteorological Service, China Meteorological Administration, Mongolia National Agency for Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment Monitoring; Peking University; National Institute of Environmental Studies of Japan; Korean Meteorological Society; Korea Centre for Atmospheric Environment Research; National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration; AMS; WMO.

Scientific Steering Committee

Local Organising Committee