Comunicación presentada en: V Reunión Española de Ciencia y Tecnología de Aerosoles – RECTA 2011 celebrada del 27 al 29 de junio de 2011 en CIEMAT, Madrid.Large amounts of sand and dust are continually
lifted from bare, dry soils and transported through the atmosphere
affecting regions hundreds to thousands of kilometers
away. For countries in and downwind of arid regions, airborne
sand and dust present serious risks to the environment, human
health and economy. The World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) has taken the lead with international partners to develop
and implement a Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory
and Assessment System (SDS-WAS). The program is
organized around a Regional Center for Asia and a Regional
Centre for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe. The
Regional Centre for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe,
set in Barcelona, is hosted by the Barcelona Supercomputing
Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSCCNS)
and the Meteorological State Agency from Spain
(AEMET). Its first objective is to lead the development and
implementation of a comprehensive system for mineral dust
observation and forecast in the region, with special emphasis
on extreme sand and dust events. The second objective of the
Regional Centre is to facilitate user access to information. It
manages a web-based portal for user access to value-added
observational and forecast products as well as sources of basic
information: in particular, the portal provides the National
Meteorological and Hydrological Services with the necessary
input to issue dust-related early warnings. The third objective
is to build capacity of countries to use observations, analysis
and forecasts provided by the WMO SDS-WAS programme
