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Prof. V. Ramanathan (Chair ABC International Science Team) has won the third Tang Prize Award for sustainable development. Prof. Ramanathan has been studying the effects of greenhouse gases on global warming for the last 50 years. The Tang Prize has recognized him for his contributions to the atmospheric sciences. It is the professor's first major honor from Asia. For detail click here

  

MCOH.pngA recent edition of the PEMPHIS was dedicated to Hanimaadhoo Island. The PEMPHIS is an Environmental News Letter of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Government of Maldives. The edition included a detail article on Maldives Climate Observatory - Hanimaadhoo (MCOH) with an interview of    Dr. Krishnakant Budhavant, Resident Scientist of MCOH. In the interview, Dr. Budhavant has discussed regional air pollution and climate change issues and how the measurements conducted at the MCOH are important to address these issues. The scientific contributions of the MCOH Science Team is guiding the policy making process at the national, regional, and global levels.    

  

The South Asian Pollution Experiment 2018 (SAPOEX-18) is now gearing up toward a new large high-intensity campaign to study the Climate Pollutant Outflow from South Asia in period Nov 2017- Mar 2018.  The MCOH will serve as the hub for the campaign with additional participating observatories, such as, Delhi (NPL) and Pune (IITM) from India; Univ. Of Dhaka and Bangladesh Climate Observatory Bhola (BCOB) from Bangladesh; and MCO-Gan from Maldives. The objectives of the campaign are to study Mass Absorption Cross Section (MAC) of ambient BC aerosols, optical properties of Brown Carbon (BrC), and differentiation of primary from secondary organic aerosols (POA and SOA) in the South Asian outflow. The observational data will be useful to estimate accurate emissions of BC from various sources from south Asian region along with optical properties of brown carbon (light observing OC), and coating enhancement and atmospheric residence time of BC aerosols.​

  

IMG_20170817_101246.jpgProf. O. Gustafsson, member of ABC Science Team and Director of Maldives Climate Observatory-Hamimaadhoo (MCOH), met with Mr. Thoriqq Ibrahim, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Gov. of Maldives, along with Prof. S. K. Satheesh (MCOH Science Team). The minister was briefed about the urgency to act on the SLCP and the key role played by MCOH in the contribution to the science of SLCP.

  

Report.pngA policy report “Well Under 2 Degrees Celsius: Fast Action Policies to Protect People and the Planet from Extreme Climate Change” has been first launched at COP-22 Marrakesh and now being released at UN Climate Week in New York by the Governor of Caifornia Mr. Jeff Brown and the Director of UNDP Mr. Achim Steiner (former Executive Director of UNEP). The report was drafted by a group of renowned scientists under the Chairs of V. Ramanathan (Chair, ABC International Science Team), M. L. Molina, and D. Zaelke. The list of the authors includes O. Gustafsson and M. Laurence (Member of ABC Science Team). This report lays out urgent and practical solutions that are ready for implementation now, will deliver benefits in the next few decades, and places the world on a path to achieving the long-term targets of the Paris Agreement and near-term sustainable development goals.

  

​The South Asian Pollution Experiment (SAPOEX-2016), an international measurement campaign led by Prof. Örjan Gustafsson (an ABC Scientist), will be held in January-February 2016 at Maldives Climate Observatory-Hanimaadhoo (MCOH) and some selected measurement sites in India and Bangladesh. The scientific objectives of SAPOEX-2016 are characterization of aerosol properties for South Asian region; investigation of processing of different aerosol components during long-range transport; and monitoring of background conditions which influences long-range transport and processing of the aerosols. The research output of SAPOEX-2016 will improve our understanding on regional scale emissions and their impacts on regional climate system and human health. This is an international measurement campaign involving scientists from Stockholm University, Sweden; Finnish Meteorology Institute, Finland; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India; Dhaka University, Bangladesh; Maldives Meteorology Service, Maldives; and Maldives National University, Maldives.

  

ABC Meeting 2015.jpgThe Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) Programme Science Team Meeting was organized on November 25, 2015 at UNCC, Bangkok, Thailand.

The meeting commenced with a welcome remarks from Mr. Osamu Mizuno, Director of the Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific (RCC.AP), who expressed appreciation to the ABC scientists for making ABC programme a tremendous success in terms of networking of scientists and observatories, assessing the impacts, and demonstrating mitigation solutions while raising awareness at various national and international fora.

Mr. Kaveh Zahedi, Regional Director of UNEP Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP ROAP) and Prof. Nakajima, Chairperson of ABC-Asia Science Team delivered the opening remarks. Mr. Zahedi had stressed on the need to define new objectives for the ABC programme while Prof. Nakajima highlighted that ABC programme is a unique integration of the science of climate change and air pollution to assess the impacts on environment and society. He added that ABC has achieved significant success in terms of building a network of scientists, generating a wealth of scientific knowledge on air pollution and establishing linkages between air pollution and climate change. The data measured at the observatories located at strategic locations in Asia-Pacific region is very useful for modeling and regional assessment.

The meeting was conducted in an open and closed-door sessions. The open session discussed the following items: (i) updates of the ongoing measurements of ABC components at the respective observatories; (ii) the status of data analysis at the Data Analysis Centers located in University of Tokyo, Japan and Seoul National University, Korea; (iii) the website and database management at RRC.AP; (iv) SustKat-ABC project; and (v) the atmospheric measurements in Nepal and Bhutan. During the closed-door meeting, the future plans and the way forward for the ABC programme was discussed.

The meeting was attended by ABC Scientists and representatives from RRC.AP, UNEP ROAP and some observers from other organizations. The meeting was coordinated by RRC.AP as the ABC Secretariat in collaboration with UNEP ROAP.

  

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​The Chancellor of Maldives National University (MNU) Dr. Mohamed Latheef, along with a delegation of his colleagues Dr. Fawaz Shareef (Vice Chancellor), Muaviyath Mohamed and other MNU officials, has visited Maldives Climate Observatory-Hanimaadhoo (MCOH) on 17 August 2015. MCOH is a super observatory of the ABC programme with state-of-the art instruments and facilities for the measurements of air pollution and climate parameters. The delegation was hosted by Dr. Krishnakant Budhvant, Resident Scientist at the MCOH. Dr. Budhavant has shown them the ongoing measurements and explained how these measurements are immensely contributing in generating scientific knowledge on atmospheric sciences and climate change that has applications in various fields, such as, environment, agriculture, health, etc. The Chancellor agreed that, since MCO-H is well equipped with advanced scientific instruments and facilities, it is the best place for high quality research, organizing training/workshop for school and university students, and policy makers. The visit the Chancellor of the MUN, with a delegation, is a value added to the importance of MCOH at the academic and political level.
  

Prof. Henning Rodhe, an eminent ABC Scientist, receives the Volvo Environment Prize 2015 for his contributions to the understanding of the world's atmosphere. His pioneering work explains how gases and particles are transported and deposited and how they affect climate, ecosystems and human health. Prof. Rodhe is the Vice-Chair of the ABC-International Science Team. Read more…

 ​Press release from the Volvo Environment Prize, Oct 21, 2015.

  

ABC-SLCP_Tokyo_2014.pngThe Second International Symposium on the Atmospheric Brown Cloud and Short-lived Climate Pollutants (ABC-SLCP) along with Joint Planning Meeting and ABC Science Team Meeting were held, back to back, in Tokyo, Japan, during 21-23 July 2014. These events were hosted by the University of Tokyo.  

The ABC-SLCP Symposium, which was held during 21-22 July 2014, was attended by ABC scientists, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Climate Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), and scientists from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), and S12 project. The objectives of the symposium were to share research findings of ongoing activities of ABC programme including observations, modeling, emission inventory, impact assessment, and mitigation. It was also aimed to share science-based knowledge of ABC programme with CCAC.

The opening addresses were given by Mr. Kaveh Zahedi, Regional Director, UNEP Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (ROAP) and Prof. V. Ramanathan, Chair, ABC International Science Team (through the skype from USA). Mr. Zahedi, in his address, emphasized that the air pollution has been emerged as an important issue at the global level to be addressed due to its detrimental impacts on health and environment. He also mentioned that the scientific research like ABC played an important role in bringing up the issue of air pollution at the international agenda. While, Prof. Ramanthan, apart from sharing historical achievements of the ABC programme in terms of scientific findings those revealed the impacts of aerosols on climate, agriculture, water resources, and human health and successful in transfer of information to policy makers for instigating of mitigation measures, emphasized that to address air pollution we must think globally, plan regionally, and act locally. For example, success of Project Surya brought a change in the life of people living in remote areas in India. Prof. T. Nakajima, in his welcome address, welcomes the participants for the meaning symposium. Ms. Helena M. Valdés, Head, CCAC shared the status of coalition and prospects of CCAC to collaborate with ABC Programme.

The presentations during ABC-SLCP symposium were focused on observations, modeling, and emissions; comparison of modeling and observations; and health impacts of ABCs. About 30 experts including ABC scientists from Germany, India, China, Japan, Korea, Italy, Nepal and other countries presented their ongoing research on the ABCs including physical, chemical, optical properties, and impacts of the ABCs on the radiative forcing, cloud formation, and visibility. The modeling simulations of ABCs showed their trans-boundary nature causing a significant impact on regional climate, water resources, and human health. The findings of the observation and modeling simulation revealed a seriousness of ABCs issues which need to be tackled to improve air quality and climate of the region. Requirement of improvement in emission inventories and modeling simulations was also suggested in several presentations.

The Joint Planning Meeting (close door), which was held on 23 July 2014 involving ABC, CCAC, and S12 project, was attended by ABC Science Team members, CCAC Secretariat and partners, S12 research team, and UNEP. The objective of the meeting was to review the ABC activities in light of ongoing activities of S12 and CCAC and to plan joint activities that can be implemented in near future. The meeting agreed that ABC and CCAC can complement each other by developing joint activities including joint assessment of the SLCPs for Asia and the Pacific region. The meeting discussed potential areas for collaboration and joint activities, which include capacity building at national level, regional assessment, national action planning, and cook stoves standardization.

Same day after the Joint Planning Meeting, ABC Science Team Meeting was held at the same venue. It was a close-door meeting, attended by ABC Science Team members only. The meeting discussed issues related to observatories, standardization of BC measurement, new funding for ABC, and new members to the science team.

All three events, that is, ABC-SLCP International Symposium, Joint Planning Meeting, and ABC Science Team Meeting were highly successful.

  

The Vice President of the Republic of Maldives Dr. Mohamed J. Ahmed along with Mr. Toriq Ibrahim the Minister of Environment and Energy and Mr. Abdul Mohamed the State Minister of Environment and Energy has visited the Maldives Climate Observatory-Hanimaadhoo (MCO-H) on February 20, 2014. The visist of the Vice President was hosted by Dr. Krishnakant Budhvant, Resident Scientist at the MCOH. Dr. Budhavant explained to Vice President that how the measurements of air pollutants carrying out at the MCO-H are important for the assessment of local and regional air quality which immensely contributing to generate a wealth of scientific knowledge on atmospheric sciences and climate change. Dr. Budhavant emphasized that MCO-H is well equipped with advanced scientific instruments for air pollution measurements, and thus, it is a good place for organizing training for students, researchers, and the environmental policy makers.

The MCO-H is one of the super observatory of the ABC Climate Observatory Network, established a decade ago, by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to study regional level air pollution. The MCO-H is located at such strategic location in Indian Ocean which often remain under the influence of long transport of air pollution from South Asia, South East Asia and Africa. Over a decade, the MCO-H has been remained a favourite site for atmospheric measurements for the eminent scientists including Prof. V. Ramanathan, USA; Prof. H. Rodhe and Prof. O. Gustafsson, Sweden; and many other scientists of USA, India, Germany, etc.

The current visit of the Vice President of Maldives with ministers is a value added to the importance of the MCO-H at the political level, and is expecting a positive impact on regional environmental policy making. VP_Photo.zip 

 

  

Prof. V. Ramanathan , a prominent ABC Scientist, received the Highest Environment Award from the United Nations and the Tyler Prize, the Highest Environment Award from the Govt. of USA for his contribution to the science of black carbon (BC) aerosols. BC aerosols play a significant role in the regional climate change.

Prof. V. Ramanathan is the Chair of ABC-International Science team and a member of ABC Steering Committee. He is the Principle Investigator of Maldives Climate Observatory-Hanimaadhoo (MCO-H) and Project Surya 

  

The International symposium on Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABC) and Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCP) was held back-to-back with the ABC Science Team Meeting on 9-10 September 2013 at the Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul, South Korea.

The ABC-SLCP symposium which was organized on the 9th of September and the morning of the 10th, was attended by about 50 participants, including the Science Team members, Climate Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) representative, young researchers, and the university  students. During the ABC-SLCP symposium, high level research on the observations, modeling and emissions, modeling and observations, and health impacts of the atmospheric brown clouds were presented by the experts.

 ABC-SLCP Programme.pdf, ABC-SLCP_Summary 2013.pdf,ABC-SLCP Presentations.zip, Photo