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Saudi KAUST Researchers Join OceanQuest Inaugural Expedition Around Africa 

The KAUST research team conducted crucial research in biodiversity assessment, seamount studies, and chemical analyses. (SPA)
The KAUST research team conducted crucial research in biodiversity assessment, seamount studies, and chemical analyses. (SPA)
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Saudi KAUST Researchers Join OceanQuest Inaugural Expedition Around Africa 

The KAUST research team conducted crucial research in biodiversity assessment, seamount studies, and chemical analyses. (SPA)
The KAUST research team conducted crucial research in biodiversity assessment, seamount studies, and chemical analyses. (SPA)

Researchers from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) joined the Saudi non-profit foundation OceanQuest on its first marine expedition around Africa aboard the advanced research vessel RV OceanXplorer, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.

The expedition represents a major milestone in marine and ocean exploration, underscoring Saudi Arabia's dedication to advancing national scientific expertise and boosting global research cooperation — key goals under Saudi Vision 2030.

The mission began in Moroni, Comoros, with the team sailing south through the Indian Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa. Its focus was on assessing biodiversity across several seamounts.

A second phase, designed for early-career oceanographers, proceeded north to Walvis Bay in Namibia before concluding scientific operations in Mindelo, Cabo Verde.

The KAUST research team, comprising two PhD candidates from the Marine Microbiome Lab and one from Earth Science and Engineering, conducted crucial research in biodiversity assessment, seamount studies, and chemical analyses. The experience provided the students with significant hands-on experience.

The team researched seamount formation in the Indian Ocean, seeking insights into similar geological phenomena in Saudi waters. The work involved ocean depth mapping and sample collection, providing the researchers with practical field experience applicable to research within the Kingdom.

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Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
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Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)

Communities across Asia's Himalayan Hindu Kush region face heightened disaster risks this monsoon season with temperatures and rainfall expected to exceed normal levels, experts warned on Thursday.

Temperatures are expected to be up to two degrees Celsius hotter than average across the region, with forecasts for above-average rains, according to a monsoon outlook released by Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Wednesday.

"Rising temperatures and more extreme rain raise the risk of water-induced disasters such as floods, landslides, and debris flows, and have longer-term impacts on glaciers, snow reserves, and permafrost," Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a senior adviser at ICIMOD, said in a statement.

The summer monsoon, which brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall, is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and for food security in a region that is home to around two billion people.

However, it also brings destruction through landslides and floods every year. Melting glaciers add to the volume of water, while unregulated construction in flood-prone areas exacerbates the damage.

"What we have seen over the years are also cascading disasters where, for example, heavy rainfall can lead to landslides, and landslides can actually block rivers. We need to be aware about such possibilities," Saswata Sanyal, manager of ICIMOD's Disaster Risk Reduction work, told AFP.

Last year's monsoon season brought devastating landslides and floods across South Asia and killed hundreds of people, including more than 300 in Nepal.

This year, Nepal has set up a monsoon response command post, led by its National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

"We are coordinating to stay prepared and to share data and alerts up to the local level for early response. Our security forces are on standby for rescue efforts," said agency spokesman Ram Bahadur KC.

Weather-related disasters are common during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change, coupled with urbanization, is increasing their frequency and severity.

The UN's World Meteorological Organization said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a "distress signal" of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable.