EU PROJECT STARKICK OFF MEETING

April 15, 2004

KNMI De BILT

Workpackage 5Gerda Wesenhagen

Siewnath Naipal

Bing Tan

Education and Training

• Current curriculumCurrent curriculum1.Environmental chemistry- Key words: Atmospheric radiation budget / budget and cycles Atmospheric circulation: transporters of chemical constituents Global air quality data and trends/ Greenhouse effect Ozone depletion /Photochemical smog Aerosols /Acid rain

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2. Atmospheric pollution and treatment technology- Key words:Models e.g.plume(stack emissions)Influence of (In)stable weather conditionsPollutants e.g.emission out of tanks (VOCs)Clean / End of pipe technologyEnergy savings rules

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3. Earth system physics- Key words Energy balance in the atmosphere Moisture (rain, clouds etc.) General circulation Measurement of all the meteorological data

and remote sensing Impact of el nino, global warming etc. on the

climate of Suriname

Continueweather forecastingair pollution (dynamic transport of contaminants)

4. Architectonical physics- Key wordsThermal comfortLighting Sound

Conditions and facilitiesConstant flow of students with interest in

chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere

Lecturers with a driving force for research and a commission for the project

Expansion and establishment of new infrastructure at the MDS

The need of up to date information’s for socio-economical development in the country

Global developments (influence of external conditions)

Kyoto protocol signed by SurinameConvention on Climate changeConvention to Combat DesertificationConvention on Biodiversity

-Influence: to achieve the goals we need to give information to all the stakeholders

-Local Contribution: we have the students, we have the countries location and we have the data

Shortcomings

Manpower KnowledgeAvailable timeNecessary financing for further

upgrading of the existing infrastructure and facilities

Support

We need support on:The processing of the dataTraining for lecturers e.g. intensive courses,

certificate studiesLiterature Training for technical staff of the MDS Development of the curriculum of graduate

and post graduate studies

Output

We expect:Capacity buildingInstitutional strengtheningA specially adapted curriculum

All for the continuation of the project: a

guarantee for sustainability

Workpackage 6

Historical data

Gerda WesenhagenSiewnath NaipalBing Tan

Historical observational dataWe have two types of stations in Suriname:1. Weather stations(synoptic): in ‘Albina’,

‘Nickerie’, Zanderij, Zorg en Hoop, Sipaliwini, Tafelberg, Stoelmanseiland, Coeroeni, Kabalebo (8). These stations, including the above mentioned list of stations and others (>80 stations) have for the greater part rainfall data

Station ‘Cultuurtuin’ has data from since 1900 (Older data from before 1900 was collected by

someone who worked at the governmental hospital in those days)

Station ‘Paradise’ and ‘Totness’ have a longer series of data

2. Climatic stations: the list here above plus Stondansie, Totness, Mata, Sipaliwini, etc.(26)

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From 1960: development of much more stations also in the interior

Closing of these stations from 1986 – 1992 due to the civil war also created gaps in the data. Measurements of :

• Rainfall (precipitation)• Evaporation (open pans)• Temperature (dry bulb/wet bulb)

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• Humidity (at saturation)

• Wind direction

• Wind speed

• Sunshine

Other data

From Claire: measurements of trace gases above the amazone forest (partly in Suriname)

From 1998 RADCHIS project: basic measurements

From 2004 STAR project: extensive measurements

Data processing

What did we do till now with the dataTill 1990 publication in yearbook of the MDS Partly on hard copy, partly digitized; public

available An attempt was made to correlate health

(malignant growth) with climatic aspects (UV radiation):interfaculty collaboration

Sandwich model PhD.study of one of our full time lecturers R. Nurmohamed ’impact of climatic change on water resources in Suriname’

Ph.D study of Mr. Nurmohamed; “Impact of Climate Change and Variation on the Water resources of

Suriname

• Main objective:– To study the impact of future climate changes and climate

variation on the water resources in Suriname

• Specific objective:– To develop scientific understanding of the climate change and

climate variation in Suriname– Detect historical climate change and variation on some hydro-

meteorological variables– To examine the effects of future climate changes and variation on

river flows– To examine the effects on future climate changes on groundwater

flow.

Mission/vision of the Faculty of Technology

The university must play the role of a development university

LimitationsLogistic problemsManpower: the government is not taking on

new staffCurriculum:

relevant for Suriname interesting for students (management of MDS)Although so many data yet not knowing

how to fully manage them e.g. not known how many sunny days per year

Needs

Support on analyzing the data Support on modelingTraining of lecturers Literature

Future plans

Joint publicationSpecific cooperation