This effort consists of installing a low.end McIDASWorkstation in Kuwait City, enabling (asynchronous)communications between the workstation in Kuwait and McIDASmainframe facility in Madison, Wisconsin. It is anticipated thatNOAA personnel will dial into the mainframe facility and downloaddata on demand. Besides METEOSAT, other data relevant to thedispersal of the smoke are also available via McIDAS (e.g. NOAA.11 and 12 AVHRR imagery, surface and upper air data from the Gulfstations, NMC forecast products, etc.), which will also beaccessible from Kuwait. SSEC provided similar capability inBahrain in support of the University of Washington and NCARaircraft during May and June of this year. A McIDAS workstation located in Kuwait would also be a veryuseful research tool. It would allow the scientists locatedthere to investigate the effects of the smoke on the localweather including: the effects of the smoke on visibility andtemperatures, the predictability of the smoke based on the localconditions, the probability of "black rain" in the coming wintermonths, etc.. The workstation can also provide a means ofexporting local data such as those gathered on the 15 towersinstrumented by NOAA for use by scientists in the US through themainframe McIDAS. Other research opportunities include theinvestigation of the impact the smoke has on Kuwait's environmentas well as the impact of dust storms on local activities such asaviation.
