The Pakistan Meteorological Department has organized a workshop on the ‘Interaction of westerly and summer monsoon in upper Indus basin and its effect on water resources,’ and ‘projection and attribution of streamflow composition in mountain rivers in China and Pakistan’.

Ahmad Kamal, Chairman Federal Flood Commission graced the occasion as chief guest.  Prof. Dr. M. Ashraf of the Pakistan Science Foundation, Dr. Tariq Banuri of the Global Change Impact Studies Centre and renowned scientists from both the countries were also there.

Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) and National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) has jointly funded both of these projects. The PMD said that project adds supplementary knowledge about hydro-meteorological aspects, particularly in northern areas, with bulk of frozen water reserves as snow and glaciers the projects without exploiting existing scientific knowledge and technological advancements. It stated the projects understand present and future state of stream flows in snow and ice subjugated regions under changing climate.

The PMD added that final results will help to address social needs of community in the insight of environmental and ecological changes as a result of climate change.  The pilot basin selected includes two river basins that are Tarim River, China and Chitral River, Pakistan. The project’s framework is for developing unswerving climate change situations, universal valid hydrological models and potential outputs framed by shared discussions between scientists from both sides.

Climate modeling team of China Meteorological Administration (CMA) and a group of ecological scientists from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) involved in research along with PMD researchers of Pakistan.

Future climate change situations developed on finest resolution and availability of water resources from snow and glaciers will be assessed. Liquid and solid precipitation will be separated thus flood forecasting model could be incorporated in future scenarios of frozen beside water resources.