cc: Nick Brooks <nick.brooks@uea.ac.uk>, "Thomas C Peterson" <Thomas.C.Peterson@noaa.gov>, Richard Thigpen <RThigpen@wmo.int>, <david.parker@metoffice.gov.uk>
date: Tue May  3 13:13:04 2005
from: Phil Jones <p.jones@uea.ac.uk>
subject: Western Sahara
to: "Hans Teunissen" <HTeunissen@wmo.int>

    Hans,
         I told Nick Brooks who works here at UEA that I would forward his email
    to someone. You'll need to read his email to see the idea and I'll elaborate
    on the potential problems. The major problem is that the 'country' isn't one
    in the strictest sense. It is a UN protectorate of sorts.  There are all sorts of issues
    of stepping on toes - Morroco for a start. Apparently you can get to the 'country'
    through Mauritania as well as Algeria. Being a UN agency you may be able to find
    out what the problems might be.
        As there are very little or no data, there are no GCOS sites. There is probably
    nothing we can do, but maybe someone will have some bright idea.
    Cheers
    Phil

     From: Nick Brooks <nick.brooks@uea.ac.uk>
     Subject: Re: Western Sahara Project enquiry
     Date: Tue, 3 May 2005 11:39:57 +0100
     To: Phil Jones <p.jones@uea.ac.uk>
     X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.619.2)
     Dear Phil
     Thanks for forwarding this to me; I'll get back to the person in question.
     I've been meaning to contact you about Western Sahara in any case. On my last trip there
     in March this year I was struck by how green it was. According to Stefan Kroepelin, who
     came with me, the vegetation where we were, between about 20 and 25 degrees N, was
     equivalent to that beginning at 16 degrees N in the eastern Sahara. The locals talk
     about rain and drought, and apparently every couple of years they get the tail end of
     the summer monsoon rains. The also get some winter rain, presumably associated with the
     Atlantic westerlies that water Morocco. All the climatological charts show Western
     Sahara as hyper arid, much like the central Sahara at the same latitudes. This is
     probably not surprising, given that there are no data for the region, except for one met
     station on the coast where coastal upwelling is associated with subsidence. So I suspect
     that our understanding of the rainfall and climate of this part of northern Africa needs
     to be revised.
     I know CRU are not in the business of setting up met stations, but thought perhaps you
     knew people in the Met Office who might be interested in this. I work in what is known
     locally as the "free zone", which is the part not occupied my Morocco (most of the
     country is). I have excellent relations with the Polisario, who run this part of Western
     Sahara from Algeria, and it would be no problem to set up some observing stations from
     the point of view of bureaucracy - all we need are the resources, some expertise, and
     equipment that can be left to its own devices for long periods. I don't know how much
     this would cost though.
     Feel free to forward this to the relevant people if you think it might be worth
     pursuing. I think this would be a worthwhile exercise in the name of better
     observational data from Africa, and this almost never-visited region might yield some
     interesting results regarding monsoon sensitivity and oscillation of the monsoon limit.
     All the best
     Nick
     Dr Nick Brooks
     Senior Research Associate, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
     Assistant Director, UEA Saharan Studies Programme
     School of Environmental Sciences
     University of East Anglia
     Norwich NR4 7TJ
     UK
     Tel: +44 1603 593904
     Fax: +44 1603 593901
     Email: nick.brooks@ueaa.ac.uk
     Tyndall website: [1]http://www.tyndall.ac.uk
     Saharan Studies Programme: [2]http://www.uea.ac.uk/sahara
     Personal website: [3]http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~e118/welcome.htm

   Prof. Phil Jones
   Climatic Research Unit        Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090
   School of Environmental Sciences    Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784
   University of East Anglia
   Norwich                          Email    p.jones@uea.ac.uk
   NR4 7TJ
   UK
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