Jordan states that there was an increase in soil salinity at four locations in the Middle Jordan Valley.

This led to an increase in the salinity of effluent from the treatment plant, which in turn damaged agricultural resources.

Other uses of remote imaging together with data from the ground included maps of soil salinity, biomass, crop management, and crop yields.

In Sudan, IFAD has funded research into cash and forage crop varieties that are resistant to drought, salinity and poor soil conditions.

Iraq argues that Jordan's evaluation of damage is only theoretical because, first, the data provided on soil salinity are not relevant in assessing the damage and, second, the level of soil salinity after the invasion and occupation is calculated with a model and this makes it impossible to determine the actual levels of increase.

Near the end of the fiscal year, NOAA announced completion of initial flight tests of a new system for mapping coastal ocean salinity.

And in parts of the Arabian Gulf, the seawater, the salinity is increasing steadily due to the discharge of waste brine from desalination plants.

Noting that hazards in Bangladesh include floods, storm surges, droughts, and increasing salinity, he gave examples of technologies existing in Bangladesh to reduce risk.

One delegation indicated its willingness to share the data and information it had compiled at the national level about fish stocks, pollution, salinity and temperature.

Jordan also claims that these studies show that damage to agricultural resources resulted from increased salinity of effluent from the As Samra wastewater treatment plant.

Jordan estimates that from 29 to 55 per cent of the resulting soil salinity, up to the year 2015, is attributable to the presence of refugees.

Soil erosion, waterlogging and salinity, predicted to increase with the onset of climate change, all contribute to land degradation and desertification, leading to overexploitation of the land.

Saline effluent from the treatment plant also led to an increase in the salinity of irrigation waters drawn from the King Talal reservoir and the King Abdullah canal.

Hence, according to Iraq, any increase in salinity, which is a key parameter in the claim unit, could only have resulted from mismanagement of water used for irrigation.

Iraq contends that most of the data provided by Jordan show that over abstraction, increasing salinity and a decline in groundwater levels existed prior to the invasion and occupation.

In addition, the total agricultural area decreased from 1994 to 1997, but increased after 1998. Iraq suggests that this leads to the conclusion that salinity is no longer a problem.

Parties also identified possible adverse effects on fisheries due to changes in temperature and salinity, and loss of productive habitats for many species due to sea level rise and associated flooding.

Iraq further asserts that, although Jordan states that the increased salinity seriously affected its tomato crop, Jordan replaced tomatoes with other crops that are equally difficult to grow in saline soils.

We went back out for the final tour of the farm, and he showed me the wild pepper plants and the plants that he made sure existed on his farm for salinity.

(b) Information concerning environmental parameters (seasonal and during test period) including, inter alia, wind speed and direction, wave height, period and direction, current speed and direction, water salinity, temperature and biological communities.

Consisting of a microwave radiometer, an infrared radiometer, a GPS instrument for locating measurements, and a computer, the new system can produce salinity maps at the rate of 100 square kilometers per hour.

In the view of the Panel, the data provided by Jordan show that salinity reaching groundwater originated primarily from soluble minerals underneath the As Samra ponds rather than from the wastewater in the ponds.

However, Iraq observes that, given the standard efficiency of waste stabilization ponds, this would have resulted in increasing organic matter, suspended solids and microbiological contents of the effluent, but not in an increase in salinity.

In this regard, the Panel notes that the data show that salinity down gradient from As Samra began to increase shortly after the construction of the plant in 1985 and continued to increase until at least 2000.

Further, the available data do not provide a basis for determining what impacts, if any, the presence of refugees might have had on the level of salinity in the plume of effluents referred to in the claim.

In particular, the measurements of salinity in effluent from the As Samra wastewater treatment plant, irrigation waters and agricultural soils do not show a clear pattern of impact that can be linked to the presence of refugees in Jordan.

In addition, Iraq states that Jordan has failed to take account of other causes of damage, and argues that although some wells in the Azraq basin show some increase of salinity between 1992 and 1995, irrigation is the most likely cause of such increase.

More specifically, many reporting Parties identified the following negative impacts erosion and setback of coastlines, increase in salinity in estuaries and wetlands, degradation of mangrove ecosystem, saltwater intrusion into aquifers, beach and land losses, decrease in productivity of coastal fisheries and devastating effects on species of coral.

NOAA apos s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) anticipated collaborating with other NOAA and Federal agencies and academia in coastal ecosystem health, hydrological, and coastal forecasting activities where data on salinity are critical, such as in studies of the distribution of brown shrimp in the Mississippi Delta and Gulf of Mexico.