1. The AMMA Operation Center in Niger :
SOP config
Ground Measurement
EOP/LOP
Radiosoundings, AERONET,
IDAF,GPS, Flux stations
ACMAD Center
AMMA Forecasting Center
AOC Coordination Center
(IRD)
SOP Coordination Center
(Met.Office; DMN)
ECMWF,
NWP, MSG, models
(Meteo-France,Toulouse)
PUMA and RETIM
Daily briefings
AMMA-Niger room
Office for the scientific secretary, IST.
Room with computers (quick look..)
Visiting scientists room
General coordination of the AOC
Visiting scientists room
Civil Airport
SOP Secondary AOCs
(Burkina, Benin, Dakar)
Niamey Airport
ASECNA/DMN/DAC
Niger Air Force
UK aircraft team
ARM (AMMA-US)
GPS
Radio soundings
Military Airport
French aircraft team
German aircraft team
Balloons (CNES, FR)
MIT C-band Radar (US)

2. AOC-Niamey installations

3. 2 briefing rooms (15-20 persons)
for aircraft + balloons team

4. Renovation work at the military airport
electricity in the hangar and on the parking (network redone + lights). Taxiway lights.
renovation of the AC → DC GPS (362A 115/200V 400 Hz)
renovation of the hangar roof
new tarmac on the taxiway
reparation of 4 aircraft stepladders
building of 8 rooms under the hangar for French and German aircraft scientists and operators (270 m2)
renovation of 3 rooms under the hangar
internet connections (scientific and military part as capacity building)
building of a launching area for stratospheric balloons
new building for balloons operations

6. PLAN DES CONNECTIONS INFORMATIQUES AEROPORT MILITAIRE
HANGAR
SALLE DE FORMATION
SCOUT
ETAT MAJOR
Vers ASECNA
antenne WIFI
réseau filaire
switch
SATOM

7. French Chemistry (GCs)
DMN
11.20
≈ 6.70
3.50
4.40
4.00
3.90
4.30
2.80
3.00
≈ 3.60
1.20
5.80
2.20
8.20
Wall with « claustra »,
closed with plastic sheets
or wood pannels
Without wall
Gate
DMN Building
Garage
Terrace
Veranda
New wall
Actuel door
New door
Secretary
York and UEA Chemistry (GCs)
Visitors’
office
French Chemistry (GCs)
Stearing group
Strage A GCs
Briefing room
Proposition du 04/03/2006
Proposition 3 : map
Plastic sheets
Wood pannels
Strage B GCs
Little kitchen place
Work surface
0.8m width
0.7m high
1.48
1.38
1.00
1.50
1.25
1.40
Windows

8. HOTELS Teams who have booked : British - Grand Hôtel
SAFIRE – Terminus (except F-F20 crew)
LISA (ground measurements) - Terminus
scientists on ATR and F-F20 - Terminus
film team -Terminus
SCOUT balloons – Sahel +Terminus
nothing booked for coordinators, forecasting team, G-F20…. It’s time to hurry up! Full in Terminus between 8-11 August. 8 pers without room!
Please join Nathalie D’Amato
Grand Hôtel (10% discount included):
CFA/night
Sahel (10% discount, not included)
10 bungalows : CFA/night (full between 18/07 and 29/08.
rooms CFA/night
Terminus (15% discount included):
34 rooms : CFA/night
16 rooms : CFA/night
Breakfast or CFA

9. TRANSPORT TO NIAMEY
Nathalie D’Amato found 180 travels. Some are not nominative. Some probably lack!
You must book from your own since it was decided it would be done from Europe. Think to do it and to inform Nathalie D’Amato since it could reveal to be a problem during SOP2a2.

10. TRANSPORT IN NIAMEY
We have an agreement with a company of car renting with the following prices (with a driver but without the fuel):
+ taxi (2 000CFA/h, gas-oil included and CFA/day, without gas-oil)
Tell Cheikh Kane as soon as possible your needs and he'll try to book the cars for you

11. HEALTH Recommended : Gamkalley clinique
3 doctors included the director. The latter will be in Niamey until mid-August. Will be replaced afterwards by a specialist from the Hospital.
between 12h30 and 15h30, one of the 3 doctors can be called (at home) : ½ h to come. During nights and WE, specialists from hospital are called.
give your insurance name, number and contact to Nathalie D’Amato + passport number and keep your card on yourself during your mission. In any case, it is better to call your insurance as soon as possible. Keep Gamkalley phone number on yourself : or

12. Aircraft fares
They have to be paid in cash. They DO NOT WANT us to pay to Dakar. There was a possibility to sign a contract (open a customer count) but it is 3 months long, and you have to give them a 2 months deposit. It’s never done for one month. Possibility to open a count in a local bank and pay in euros or CFA.
2nd demand to the Ministry of Transport for a discount on fares (last month). The Ministry has not responded yet (out of Niamey).

13. Money
Money : Cash is not easy to get, even if some banks can provide with limited amount of money. Traveler's checks can be exchanged up to
€ with 3% fees and a lump sum of around 15 €.
Another possibility is to open an institutional account at a local Bank and to make transfers for local use. This account could be a foreign currency account. Details can be asked to Cheikh Kane (do it as soon as possible).

14. CUSTOMS
To send your material try to choose a forwarding agent which is present in both countries;
If that is not possible, you can get in touch with your AOC contact (Cheikh KANE , to give you advice on the local companies available for such operations; he could even collect for you quotations upon request;
For that, we need information like the number, the weight, the bulk mass, the way followed (air, sea), if any, the countries of transit (for us to contact our colleagues in those countries to follow-up the shipment) the final destination of your packs in the country.
To benefit of  the customs clearances, you will need to pass through IRD by sending your shipment to the following address : IRD Représentation Niger AOC-AMMA B.P , Avenue de Maradi Niamey / Niger Tél : (227) Fax : (227) Contact Cheikh KANE (cell )

15. CUSTOMS (continued)
When your choice is made concerning the forwarding agents in both countries, and as soon as your shipment is gone, please send us the following documents : the waybill (air or sea), the manifest, the value of the shipment and all what your agent could give you. This will allow us to begin the customs clearances procedure in time;
It happens that AOC-AMMA faces unexpected charges to pay on behalf of other AMMA partners. It's neither a mission nor a commitment of the operational center to pay for such expenses.
One way to avoid such troubles, is to use, for your shipment, in accordance with your forwarding agent, the formula : DDP (which stands for Delivered Duty Paid) + the named point of destination. That will make you responsible for most of the expenses, i.e. the cargo insurance, payment of customs duties and taxes, and the delivery of goods to the final point at destination. We will just take care, on our side, of import customs clearances. In addition, you’ve got to tell C. Kane whether your importation is temporary or definitive.
You still have the possibility to pay cash by bringing hard currency and change it into CFA currency. That implies to be here when the shipment reaches Niamey.

16. Aircraft clearances

17. Please add to your own correspondance :
As a response to your fax from March 21st (for Mali for instance) (ref 028/DNAC/BV/DTA/OPS – 0282), following a fax from Thierry Lebel about a request for overflight permission, landing/take-off and dropsonde launches for research aircraft from June to September 2006 (REF/NA/TL/06-12), you will find in the following some additional information you require : …..
En réponse à votre fax du 21 mars 2006 (pour Mali) référencé 028/DNAC/BV/DTA/OPS – 0282 qui fait suite au courrier de Thierry Lebel sur la demande d’autorisations de survol, d’atterrissage et de largage de dropsondes pour des avions de recherche de juin à septembre 2006 (REF/NA/TL/06-12), vous voudrez bien trouver ci-dessous les renseignements supplémentaires que vous sollicitez : …..

18. BADGES
Military airport : very easy to obtain (we only need photos and copy of the passport). Visitors badges available (ask Frédérique).
Civil airport : a very long story. It took 5 months to obtain the AOC’s badges. We’ve just got them with an expiration date in 2005 (2006 are not ready yet) .
The easy way to access we had in SOP0 can be redriven (list of people provided by Frédérique and given to the airport commandant who signed it, and to the Chef Gendarme) BUT the commission must be informed before (provide 2 photos and passport copy). Anyway, badges cannot be done unless the criminal record is provided.
For French (and German?) people, Cyrille will make a restricted list of people (pilots, coordinators) who will provide their criminal record in addition. Badges will be done after another photo taken at the ASECNA and against CFA.

19. TELEPHONE
A TELECEL network connected to AOC and to our main parteners (civil aitport, ACMAD, Ministry of Research, military airport) is available.
To be able to use this network, you must
bring your own mobile phone, make it deblocked (some do not need)
make a demand to Nat D’Amato for a SIM card (6000 CFA for the SIM card CFA /month, charge is taken from THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTH). Please, group your demand. You must pay at the end of the month to be able to use the SIM card the following month.
Note : this SIM card is paid by the API for the French aircraft scientists but the number of SIM cards is limited by the budget (ask Cyrille).
You can use this same phone for other numbers than those of the network, provided you buy a recherge card (anywhere in the street). Remember it is TELECEL.
Be careful : TELECEL cannot be used for Banizoumbou (CELTEL network)

20. * Site de l’aéroport civil (locaux de l’ASECNA) :
- rénovation et aménagement de 6 bureaux dans les locaux de la météorologie (14 k€)
- contribution au nivellement et à la réfection du parking, devant le bâtiment des radiosondages. (13 k€)
* Site de l’aéroport militaire (base aérienne 101) :
- alimentation électrique du hangar et du parking, balisage, éclairage, réparation du toit du hangar (24 k€)
- réfection du tarmac du taxiway (10 k€)
- construction et aménagement de bureaux sous le hangar (300m2) (46 k€)
- connexions internet sur toute la base (10 k€)
- construction d’une aire de lancement et d’un nouveau bâtiment pour les opérations aériennes (62 k€)
* Site de la Direction de la Météorologie Nationale :
- terrassement de la cour et aménagement de la villa pour l’accueil du quartier général des opérations et des laboratoires d’analyse (15 k€)
*Site de l’ACMAD :
- rénovation de la salle de prévision, achat et installation d’une antenne satellite pour l’accès internet (9 k€)
Par ailleurs, 107 k€ sont investis pour construire et mettre en œuvre une boucle radio et WIFI permettant de distribuer internet aux différents sites. Cette enveloppe comprend un abonnement dédié sur la période des opérations.