Integratıng earth observatıons for enhancıng human health and ınfrastructure resılıence durıng desert dust storms

As global climate change continues to exacerbate global warming and global warming moves into the future, desert ecosystems are expected to face a heightened vulnerability to its impacts, including rising temperatures, sea level rise and variations in intensity and frequency of precipitation. These conditions directly affect the structural integrity of desert ecosystems and their ability itself to function as ecosystems. The CiROCCO Project aims to address this critical issue by integrating a network of cost-effective sensing nodes with advanced remote and in-situ data fusion techniques1. This initiative intends to cover under-sampled desert areas and those profoundly impacted by Desert Dust Storms (DDS). The project focuses on four pilot areas, namely Egypt, Cyprus, Serbia, and Spain. Within the context of the Cyprus pilot study, CiROCCO aims to examine the nexus between the urban environment in the Municipality of Idalion and the consequences of DDS on air quality2 and public health3. As part of the project, an Early Warning System (EWS) for Air Quality will be put in place, with weather prediction models playing a significant role in the development of the EWS. The evaluation of the WRF-Chem model forms an integral part of the preliminary phase for establishing the Cyprus pilot. This assessment utilizes PM10 near-ground concentration obtained from a background monitoring station in Cyprus2, spanning the period from 2021 to 2023, predating the installation of the CIROCCO sensing node network. Future reevaluation of the WRF-Chem model aims to quantify the improvement in prediction accuracy resulting from the assimilation of model forecasts with in-situ datasets and earth observations facilitated by the CIROCCO infrastructure. Regulatory authorities plan to adopt the EWS, providing public access via a dedicated website and mobile app. The project contributes insights applicable to similar regions in Cyprus and Eastern Europe. AKNOWLEDGMENTS This research work is part of the CiROCCO Project. CiROCCO Project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or REA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. REFERENCES 1Papathanasiou C., Mouzourides P., Vlachos M., Neophytou M.K-A, Tsiakos V., Tsimiklis G., Amditis A. (2023). Enhancing in-situ environmental observation to support desert dust storm events monitoring, 10th Int. Conference on Civil Protection & New Technologies, SafeGreece2023, 25-27 September, Athens, Greece 2Kinni, P., Kouis, P., Dimitriou, H., Yarza, S., Papatheodorou, S.I., Kampriani, E., Charalambous, M., Middleton, N., Novack, V., Galanakis, E. and Yiallouros, P.K., (2021). Health effects of desert dust storm events in the south-eastern Mediterranean: perceptions and practices of local stakeholders. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 27(11), pp.1092-1101. 3Achilleos, S., Mouzourides, P., Kalivitis, N., Katra I., Kloog, I., Kouis, P., Middleton, N., Mihalopoulos, N., Neophytou, M., Panayiotou, A., Papatheodorou, S., Savvides, C., Tymvios, F., Vasiliadou, E., Yiallouros, P. and Koutrakis, P. (2020).  Spatio-temporal variability of desert dust storms in Eastern Mediterranean (Crete, Cyprus, Israel) between 2006 and 2017 using a uniform methodology, Science of the Total Environment, 714, 136693