A regional Precipitation Estimation from Remote Sensing Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN) workshop on remotely sensed observation of precipitation using artificial intelligence took place at AUB, coordinated by Dr. Bashir Imam of UNESCO (October 9-11).
The workshop provided hands-on training for accessing the PERSIANN family of precipitation products appropriate for national and regional applications. Thirty-eight participants from across the region included national meteorological and hydrological services representatives from Jordan, Sudan, Palestine, Tunisia, Oman, Morocco, Syria, and Lebanon. Several AUB graduate students and faculty also participated in the lab sessions and hands-on training provided by Professors Soroosh Sorooshian, Phu Nguyen of, and Kuolin Hsu, of the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing at University of California-Irvine (CHRS-UCI).
The workshop was organized in collaboration with UNESCO groups, including the Regional Bureau for Science in the Arab States, the International Hydrological Program’s (IHP) Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands (G-WADI), UN-ESCWA’s Regional Initiative for the Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Socio-economic Vulnerability in the Arab Region (RICCAR), and CHRS-UCI.