Diagnostic Study of Atmosphere-Terrain Interaction Leading to the Formation of Dust Clouds and Poor Visibilities over the Near East Desert Areas.

Abstract

To compare the frequency of occurrence of poor visibilities in areas and during periods of intense agricultural, industrial and military activity with that in sparsely populated areas unaffected by war and military manoeuvres, three years of surface reports from 850 stations in the Near East and adjacent North Africa were screened for visibilities coded as 90 through 95 and 9 through 10. Seasonal maps of the location of station reporting poor visibilities, a calendar of poor visibility for each station and maps of the distribution of those stations reporting fog rain, fog/snow/drifting snow and sand/dust were prepared for most of the three year period. Only the most reliable and important results are shown. In mountainous regions poor visibilities occurred frequently all year round. Low frequencies of poor visibility reports were found in Eastern Tunesia, Western Lybia, West Africa and the Sudan. (It must be remembered that during World War II the desert battle between the British and the German armies in North Africa caused noticeable deterioration of visibility in Western Egypt.) It is recommended that this climatology be completed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1985
Accession Number
ADA163890

Entities

People

  • Pieter J. Feteris

Organizations

  • Jackson State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Africa
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Climatology
  • Computer Science
  • Data Analysis
  • Frequency
  • Geography
  • Maneuvers
  • Meteorology
  • North Africa
  • Scientists
  • Second World War
  • Social Sciences
  • Students
  • Universities
  • War
  • West Africa

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Climatology
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies