International Webinar on Combating Sand and Dust Storms Day 2025 held online

On July 14, the International Webinar on Combating Sand and Dust Storms Day 2025 held online, calling on countries to work together to improve dust storm forecasting technology and prevention capabilities. The Webinar was hosted by the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre for Sand and Dust Storm Forecasting (Beijing) (RSMC-ASDF Beijing) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) .

The Webinar was co-chaired by Dr. Takashi Maki, Chair of the Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) Asian Node, Dr. WANG Yaqiang, Vice-Chair of SDS-WAS Asian Center, and Dr. Sarah Bassat, Scientific Officer of WMO Secretariat. Dr. ZHANG Xiaoye, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering attended the Webinar. Nearly 50 experts and representatives from relevant organizations and departments of the WMO Secretariat, Japan, South Korea, India, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and other countries and regions, as well as the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences and other institutions, participated online.

Experts engaged in in-depth discussions on key issues such as the optimization of ground-air-space networked observation systems, enhancing numerical simulation capabilities, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in sandstorm forecasting, and the construction of an early warning system for sandstorms in Central Asia.

In September, 2025, the 11th Conference of WMO SDS-WAS and International Sandstorm Academic Symposium and International Workshop on Early Warning of Dust Storms will be held in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China. RSMC-ASDF Beijing will continue to deepen communication and cooperation, enhance dust storm monitoring, forecasting, and warning capabilities, and inject new momentum into the construction of a more efficient transnational dust storm prevention and control system.

Editor: JIANG Zhiqing