Allama Iqbal Open University. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD: Scholars at a seminar held at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) have underlined the need for practical experience in analysing data on climate using grid analysis and display systems (GrADs).
The seminar had been organised by AIOU's Department of Biology and Environmental Science in collaboration with the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), according to a statement released on Sunday
The scholars spoke about global and regional climate models and their comparisons.
With the seminar also providing training through workshops on climate data-set analysis, participants gained experience on the use of GrADs.
Resource people from PMD including Burhan Ahmad, Syed Ahsan Ali, Dr Jahangir Awan, Qamar Munir shared and highlighted simulations of South Asian summer monsoon and diagnostic studies of weather extremes.
They also gave an overview of ongoing PMD research projects in modelling climate system dynamics underway at PMD's research and development division.
AIOU's Zaibunnisa also delivered a lecture on Asian climate settings and global and regional climate models.
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) CAS Prof Dr Weiqiang Ma in a video lecture, shared ITP contributions in monitoring long-term climate change impacts on Tibetan Plateau under the Third Pole Environment (TPE) programme.
AIOU Vice Chancellor Dr Shahid Siddiqui advised students to select climatology as their field of research, owing to its extreme significance.
Dr Zafar Ilyas, the dean of Sciences Faculty, emphasised on educating the young generation on modelling climate system dynamics and global change.
He believed that AIOU can play a key role by following its mandate of education
for all.
He also highlighted the importance of climatic studies for an agrarian country such as Pakistan, where issues related to climate change and their ramifications are highly sensitive and challenging for achieving stability in the economy.
Department Head Dr Hina Fatimah said that through the workshop, the AIOU provided a forum for dialogue between scholars and climate data practitioners to streamline their future research work on climate model inter-comparisons and IPCCs climate change projections.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2018.
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