CAE in Pakistan

Since 2014, CAE has been active in Pakistan, first in collaboration with Ev-K2-CNR for installations on K2, and since 2022 at the service of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, which received more than 400 automatic monitoring and warning stations, enabling concrete and coordinated actions to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events, especially regarding GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood) risks.

The area of interest contains the Hindukush, Karakorum and Himalaya mountain ranges, which are home to large glaciers, glacial lakes and paraglacial lakes, which form due to climatic and geomorphological changes, e.g. accelerated glacier retreat due to rising temperatures, blockage of river channels by landslides, glacial surges and debris flows. In the event of collapse, these lakes can trigger floods known as GLOFs, and thus pose a direct threat to downstream communities.

So far, 192 stations have been installed under the project, benefiting 447,887 people in the 24 valleys of Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

From 24 to 28 February, Simone Colonnelli - CAE Project Manager - and Fabrizio Camassa - CAE Engineering Department - were in charge of holding a training course in Islamabad, focusing on:

• installation and configuration of software in automatic stations;
• alarm activation;
• data display for real-time monitoring of weather conditions;
• overview of server-side settings for continuous technology operation.

The data generated will be used to issue warnings in the event of GLOFs and other climate-induced disasters.

The training proved to be an important opportunity for all to meet, allowing the customer to fully understand the features and benefits of the CAE system, while providing the necessary skills to use it independently.


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