{"id":4135,"date":"2024-04-26T13:37:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rammb.cira.colostate.edu\/training\/visit\/blog\/?p=4135"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:06:25","slug":"flooding-in-the-uae-and-oman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/2024\/04\/26\/flooding-in-the-uae-and-oman\/","title":{"rendered":"Flooding in the UAE and Oman"},"content":{"rendered":"

During mid-April 2024, unprecedented flooding occurred in the Middle East, specifically in the countries of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. Over the course of a few days, a series of storms produced significant precipitation totals<\/a> that pummeled the region, which led to extensive flooding that shut down schools, grounded or diverted flights, and caused fatalities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Meteosat-9 SEVIRI<\/a> 6.25 \u00b5m captured numerous storms that passed through the region from 14-16 April 2024. The upper-level water vapor channel also observed a strengthening low-pressure system that enhanced precipitation in the UAE and Oman during 15-16 April 2024. In the water vapor animation below, notice that several storms develop on the southeast side of the upper-level trough<\/a>.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Project.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

With an emphasis on 16 April 2024, a SEVIRI Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB animation can be seen, that captures storms that develop and spread across eastern Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. At ~12Z, a north-to-south line of convective initiation develops in the UAE\/Saudi Arabia region, and advects eastward towards Oman. Outflow boundaries <\/a>(seen in cyan) are also seen moving southward in eastern Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Project-1.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

JPSS polar orbiting satellites observed the severe weather as well. Although, the polar-orbiters have a coarse temporal resolution (compared to the geostationary satellites), they provide high spatial resolution imagery at 375-m. NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 VIIRS Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB imagery observed the storms at 0930Z and 1019Z, 16 April 2024.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Project-4.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

During the same time period, the SEVIRI Dust RGB observed areas of blowing dust (i.e., in bright magenta\/pink) in southern Saudi Arabia. Dust associated with the outflow boundaries can also be seen (pink\/purple shades).<\/p>\n

https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Project-2.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Blended Total Precipitable Water (TPW) product provided insight of the moisture content within the region. Blended TPW observed high precipitable water values (2+ inches seen in red colors) in the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula<\/a>.\u00a0The rich moisture plumes aided in the development of heavy precipitation that led to flooding in the region. Note, Blended TPW observes the total precipitable water throughout a column in the atmosphere and does not identify where the moisture is located aloft (e.g., 850mb-700mb layer).<\/p>\n

https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Project-3.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Using the NOAA Satellite Proving Ground Global Flood Products Archive<\/a>, one can get a sense of the flooding that transpired in the UAE.\u00a0 A ‘Before’ (7 April 2024) and ‘After’ (17 April 2024) VIIRS Flood Map image comparison shows the extent of flooded pixels (yellow to red pixels) near and southwest of Abu Dhabi, UAE<\/a>. Noticeable new areas of inundation from the heavy precipitation event can be seen inland, and along highways in the 17 April 2024 – VIIRS Flood Map image. The VIIRS Flood Map product has a 375-m spatial resolution.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Project-5.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During mid-April 2024, unprecedented flooding occurred in the Middle East, specifically in the countries of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. Over the course of a few days, a series of storms produced significant precipitation totals that pummeled the region, which led to extensive flooding that shut down schools, grounded or diverted flights, and Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11,47,50,16,54,28,29,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-convection","category-dust","category-geostationary-satellite-discussion","category-heavy-rain-and-flooding-issues","category-hydrology","category-polar-orbiting-satellites","category-satellites","category-severe-weather","category-viirs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6020,"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4135\/revisions\/6020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/visit-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}