OCM Praying For Haze-Free SEA Games


 OCM Praying For Haze-Free SEA Games

 
27 July 2017

published by http://www.malaysiandigest.com


Indonesia – KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 – The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) hope the Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games to be held from Aug 19-30, would not be affected by the haze that has engulfed parts of Sumatera, especially Aceh, currently.

OCM president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar said every time Malaysia organised a major international event, the weather has been favourable and thus far had not interrupted preparations or the competition.

“We cannot control the weather but we assure you we always have had good weather for all our games in the past. You cannot control the weather, but we believe this year it will be good.

“A year before we hosted the 1998 Commonwealth Games, we faced a very bad haze problem and the delegates attending the Commonwealth Games Federation then were worried but during the Games, everything was fine,” he told reporters after Bata Malaysia presented shoes to the Malaysian SEA Games contingent at Wisma OCM, here today.

On Tuesday, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) has warned of an escalating threat of forest fires with the dry season expected to peak in coming months, while hot spots detected in the province of Aceh have already been causing choking smoke.

International news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that hospitals in Aceh were filled with hundreds of people, including children, who had suffered breathing problems due to the smoke.

“The peak of the dry season is predicted to be in August and September, so the threat of forest and field fires, and drought will escalate,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for BNPB had said in a statement according to the agency.

However, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has expressed confidence in the measures taken by the Indonesian government to combat forest fires in the aftermath of the 2015 major haze incident.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s chef-de-mission Datuk Marina Chin hoped Malaysia would not be affected by the haze to ensure athletes remained at their best physical and mental condition throughout the games.

“In the event that the haze situation persists, the Malaysian SEA Games Organising Committee (MASOC) will meet and discuss the next course of action,” she said.

As for the question of who would be the flag bearer for the games, Marina said the question would be answered on the last day of the centralised training camp for the Malaysian contingent on Aug 10.

“On Aug 10, I will receive the ‘Jalur Gemilang’ from Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) and hand it to the flag bearer chosen for the games,” she said.

An international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.

Over the past 15 years, California and neighboring regions have experienced heightened conditions and an increase in numbers with considerable impacts on human livelihoods, agriculture, and terrestrial ecosystems. This new research shows that in addition to a discernible contribution from natural forcings and human-induced global warming, the large-scale difference between Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperatures plays a fundamental role in causing droughts, and enhancing wildfire risks.

“Our results document that a combination of processes is at work. Through an ensemble modeling approach, we were able to show that without anthropogenic effects, the droughts in the southwestern United States would have been less severe,” says co-author Axel Timmermann, Director of the newly founded IBS Center for Climate Physics, within the Institute for Basics Science (IBS), and Distinguished Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. “By prescribing the effects of man-made climate change and observed global ocean temperatures, our model can reproduce the observed shifts in weather patterns and wildfire occurrences.”

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-atlanticpacific-ocean-temperature-difference-fuels.html#jCpAn international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.  

Over the past 15 years, California and neighboring regions have experienced heightened conditions and an increase in numbers with considerable impacts on human livelihoods, agriculture, and terrestrial ecosystems. This new research shows that in addition to a discernible contribution from natural forcings and human-induced global warming, the large-scale difference between Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperatures plays a fundamental role in causing droughts, and enhancing wildfire risks.

“Our results document that a combination of processes is at work. Through an ensemble modeling approach, we were able to show that without anthropogenic effects, the droughts in the southwestern United States would have been less severe,” says co-author Axel Timmermann, Director of the newly founded IBS Center for Climate Physics, within the Institute for Basics Science (IBS), and Distinguished Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. “By prescribing the effects of man-made climate change and observed global ocean temperatures, our model can reproduce the observed shifts in weather patterns and wildfire occurrences.”

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-atlanticpacific-ocean-temperature-difference-fuels.html#jCp


Print Friendly, PDF & Email
WP-Backgrounds Lite by InoPlugs Web Design and Juwelier Schönmann 1010 Wien