The Cloud Messenger “A thing of beauty. . . . You must read it.”—Nadeem Aslam”A shower of pleasures.”—Julia O’Faolain”Sophisticated, cosmopolitan and seductive, the novel engages mind and senses alike.”—André Naffis-Sahely, The Times Literary SupplementLike his parents, he too spent many hours sending cloud messages to other places, messages of longing for something that he knew existed otherwhere.London, that distant rainy place his father lived in once, is where Mehran finds himself after leaving Karachi in his teens. And it is there that his adult life unfolds: he discovers the joys of poetry, faces the trials of love and work, and spends his dreaming hours “sending cloud messages to other places,” hoping, one day, to tell…. Read more

Identification of Clouds and Snow in Northern Pakistan: Development of Regional Based Snow Mapping Algorithm Using Liberal Cloud Mask and Comparison with MODIS Snow-Cover Product Northern Area of Pakistan consists of the mountainous region, which is rich in snow cover. The concentration of snow in this area is main hydrological resource for Pakistan. Accurate mapping of snow for this area is inevitable for the forecasting of snow-melt discharge for flood control, energy production and irrigation. MODIS snow-cover product (MOD10A1) is generated through an automated procedure which detects and masks clouds from snow surface using a global default algorithm. This distinction is challenging since snow and cloud have comparable reflectance…. Read more