Afghanistan Meteorological Authority
Encyclopedia
The Afghanistan Meteorological Authority is located in Kabul
, Afghanistan
. The authority has been led by Abdul Qadeer since the late 1970s.
had been banned as it was considered to be sorcery
. Equipment was ruined and over 100 years worth of weather records were destroyed. Because of the ban, farm
ers were eventually harmed because drought information and forecasting could not take place. Also, in 1998, an Ariana Afghan Airlines
flight flew into unexpected weather, causing it to crash into a mountain, killing 45 people.
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Meteorological Authority had one of the most advanced weather stations available at the time and a staff of 600.
financed the installation of over a dozen simple weather station
s around Afghanistan. The stations provide basic information such as temperature, barometric pressure, and rain fall. Also in 2003, the World Meteorological Organization
in Geneva
provided the Authority with copies of its lost records.
Canadian
troops at Camp Julien
assist in collecting data by launching weather balloon
s twice a day. The data is primarily for NATO and the armies of the U.S.
and Germany
, but it is shared with the AMA as well.
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. The authority has been led by Abdul Qadeer since the late 1970s.
History
In 1996, Taliban forces sacked its office because weather forecastingWeather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
had been banned as it was considered to be sorcery
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
. Equipment was ruined and over 100 years worth of weather records were destroyed. Because of the ban, farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
ers were eventually harmed because drought information and forecasting could not take place. Also, in 1998, an Ariana Afghan Airlines
Ariana Afghan Airlines
Ariana Afghan Airlines Co. Ltd. is the oldest and the national airline of Afghanistan, and is currently the largest Afghan airline, headquartered in Kabul...
flight flew into unexpected weather, causing it to crash into a mountain, killing 45 people.
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Meteorological Authority had one of the most advanced weather stations available at the time and a staff of 600.
Recovery
In 2003, FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
financed the installation of over a dozen simple weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
s around Afghanistan. The stations provide basic information such as temperature, barometric pressure, and rain fall. Also in 2003, the World Meteorological Organization
World Meteorological Organization
The World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization , which was founded in 1873...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
provided the Authority with copies of its lost records.
Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
troops at Camp Julien
Camp Julien
Camp Julien was the main base for the Canadian contingent of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan.The camp was named after Corporal George Patrick Julien, a Canadian soldier who was awarded the Military Medal as a Private, for his actions at Hill 187 in Korea in May 1953...
assist in collecting data by launching weather balloon
Weather balloon
A weather or sounding balloon is a balloon which carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde...
s twice a day. The data is primarily for NATO and the armies of the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but it is shared with the AMA as well.