First CEOP-HE/CEOP-AEGIS Meeting June 29-30,2009 - Milan, Italy High Elevations Initiative: High Elevations Initiative: status and perspective status and

First CEOP-HE/CEOP-AEGIS Meeting June 29-30,2009 - Milan, Italy

High Elevations Initiative:High Elevations Initiative:

status and status and perspectiveperspectiveGianni Tartari1,2

Chair of CEOP-HE

&

Roberta Toffolon1

with the collaboration ofGaetano Viviano1,2, Carlo D’Agata1,3, Elisa Vuillermoz1

1Ev-K2-CNR Committee, Bergamo, Italy 2National Research Council - Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio (MI), Italy3Earth Science

Department "Ardito Desio“, University of Milan, Italy


BackgroundBackground

High elevation areas (above 2,500 m a.s.l.) represent about 20% of the total mountain area (not counting Antarctica).

http://www.unep-wcmc.org/habitats/mountains/region.html

Mountains occupy 24% of the global land surface covering all altitudinal belts and encompassing within them all the Earth’s climatic zones (Meybeck et al., 2001).

http://www.unep-wcmc.org/habitats/mountains/region.html


Mountain distribution in the continentMountain distribution in the continent

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

Europe Oceania North America Africa South America Asia

m

0

50

100

150

200

N

Median altitude of mountain > 3500 m

Number of peaks > 3500 m


Why high mountains/high elevations?Why high mountains/high elevations?

Agenda 21 – UNCED, 1992Agenda 21 – UNCED, 1992 “ “Mountains are fundamental source of water, energy, biodiversity, Mountains are fundamental source of water, energy, biodiversity,

mineral, forests, agricultural production and tourism”mineral, forests, agricultural production and tourism”

• Sensitive and fragile ecosystems• Different pressures driven by climate change (environmental

degradation, alteration of hydrological cycles, retreat of glaciers,…)

• Early indicators of climate change: United Nations General Assembly (2007) recognized mountains as ideal and vastly representative location for the study of climate change


Glaciers and seasonal snow on HE areas are the most Glaciers and seasonal snow on HE areas are the most important buffer to assess the budget of sub-continental scale important buffer to assess the budget of sub-continental scale

surface water cyclesurface water cycle

High Elevation areas as Water TowerHigh Elevation areas as Water Tower

• HEs supply a far greater part of world’s population with water• Water accumulation in mountain snow and glacier is favorable

for agriculture due to increased runoff during the growing season

• Snow, glaciers and frozen soil at high elevations are a reserve for maintaining the river flow in dry years.

• Mountains are the only renewable clean water source in many regions of the World and a significant contributor to the hydroelectric potential


Hydrological significance of mountain Hydrological significance of mountain ranges for the river ranges for the river basinsbasins

Viviroli, D. & R. Weingartner. 2004. The hydrological significance of mountains: from regional to global scale. Hydrology and Earth System Science, 8: 1016-1029.

Hydrological significance of mountain range for the river basins.

Comparison of aridity in river basins lowland area agaist maen area (dot), maximum and minimum monthly (bar) mountain contribution to total discharge.


CEOP-HE current activitiesCEOP-HE current activities

Creation of a global network of selected and well Creation of a global network of selected and well representative sites located along all Earth’s high representative sites located along all Earth’s high

elevation areas elevation areas

To study multi-scale variability in hydro-meteorological and energy cycles in high elevation areas (above 2500 m a.s.l.), while improving observation, modeling and data management.


• Data collected both from CEOP-HE Research Stations and other HE environmental monitoring stations will be organized in a synergic databasesynergic database with the final aims of sharing useful information to carry out studies in the field of hydrology, glaciology, ecology and paleolimnology.

• Achieved results will be addressed to reconstruct environment characteristics, and to elaborate appropriate models to forecast the impact of future climatic change.

CEOP-HE current activitiesCEOP-HE current activities


Total Stations > 2500 m a.s.l.: 645645

Metereological Stations on High Metereological Stations on High Elevations (1a)Elevations (1a)


Metereological Stations on High Metereological Stations on High Elevations (2)Elevations (2)

The number of permanent monitoring sites in the major international networks decreases with altitude


Metereological Stations on High Metereological Stations on High Elevations (1b)Elevations (1b)

2500-3750 m a.s.l.: 527527 3750-5000 m a.s.l.: 110110

88

> 5000 m a.s.l.:


Number of stations in each continentNumber of stations in each continent

11

210210

3434

7979

114114

207207


VariablesNumber of

Station

Temperature 638

Total Precipitation 638

Pressure 369

Relative Humidity 27

Dewpoint 289

Wind Speed 86

Wind Direction 26

Snow Depth 296

UV Radiation 24

Soil Temperature 8

Ozone 12

Aerosol 9

Greenhouse Gas 12

Reactive Gas 11

Precipitation Chemistry

4

Preliminary list of measures


0 100 200 300 400 500 600

GTS

FAO

CDNC_NOAA

GHCND

SHARE

GAWSIS

GISS

GHCN

GSN_GOSIC

ETIL

GUAN_GOSIC

GAME-AAN

Number of stations

Number of stations in each networkNumber of stations in each network


CEOP-HE Reference SitesCEOP-HE Reference Sites

1.1. TibetTibet

2.2. HimalayaHimalaya

3.3. KarakorumKarakorum

4.4. AlpsAlps

Current CEOP’s High Altitude

Reference Stations

Lukla AWS (2660 m a.s.l.)

– Himalayan area

Namche AWS (3570 m a.s.l.)

- Himalayan area

Periche AWS (4260 m a.s.l.)

- Himalayan area

Pyramid AWS (5035 m a.s.l.)

- Himalayan area


CEOP-HE Reference SitesCEOP-HE Reference Sites

1.1. TibetTibet

2.2. HimalayaHimalaya

3.3. KarakorumKarakorum

4.4. AlpsAlps

Current CEOP’s High Altitude

Reference Stations

Urdukas AWS (3926 m a.s.l.)

- Karakorum

Askole AWS (3015 m a.s.l.)

- Karakorum


CEOP-HE background activitiesCEOP-HE background activities

Example of results carried out in recent timeExample of results carried out in recent time

CEOP-HE born on the bases of 20 years experience by Ev-K2-CNR Committe


Various scales to treat in CEOP-HEVarious scales to treat in CEOP-HE

TimeHour Day Week Season Year Y-to-Y Decadal

Sp

ac

eB

asin

M

eso

-

100

km

1

000

km

Su

b-c

on

tin

ent

Convection

Glacier

Aerosol

Snow cover

Global Warming

Avalanche, Flooding

Monsoon

Severe weather

HE/Mountain ranges

Weathering

Run-offPermafrost

Courtesy of K.Ueno, modified by G.Tartari


Recent accomplishments contributing Recent accomplishments contributing to CEOP-HEto CEOP-HE

Monsoon onset in Khumbu Valley, NepalMonsoon onset in Khumbu Valley, Nepal

Day versus UTC cross section of hourly precipitation from 31 Mar to 27 Sep 2003. Nepal standard time is 5 h 45 min advancing to UTC. Date of precipitation onset (19 Jun) was marked by arrows on the left axis .

Ueno, K., K. Toyotsu, L. Bertolani, and G. Tartari, 2007, Stepwise Onset of Monsoon Weather Observed in the Nepal Himalaya, American Meteorological Society, 136 (2008), pp. 2507-2522


Black carbon 1-minute average concentrations and Ozone 30-minute average concentrations during March–August 2006 at the ABC-Pyramid Observatory.

Bonasoni, P., P. Laj, F. Angelini, J. Arduini, U. Bonafè, F. Calzolari, P. Cristofanelli, S. Decesari, M.C. Facchini, S. Fuzzi, G.P. Gobbi, M. Maione, A. Marinoni, A. Petzold, F. Roccato, J.C. Roger, K. Sellegri, M. Sprenger, H. Venzac, G.P. Verza, P. Villani, E. Vuillermoz, 2008. The ABC-Pyramid Atmospheric Research Observatory in Himalaya for aerosol, ozone and halocarbon measurements, Science of the total Environment, 391 (2008), pp. 252-261.


The Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid (NCO-P) in HimalayaThe Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid (NCO-P) in Himalaya


a) Calculated total ablation map of Baltoro Glacier (1–15 July; values in m). b) Calculated total ablation results compared with measured ablation in 2004 at different sites (56 points).

Mihalcea, C., C. Mayer, G. Diolaiuti, C. D’Agata, C. Smiraglia, A. Lambrecht, E. Vuillermoz and G. Tartari, 2008, Spatial distribution of debris thickness and melting from remote-sensing and meteorological data, at debris-covered Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan, Annals of Glaciology, 48 (2008), pp 49-57.


Energy-balance study on the Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan


Concluding remarksConcluding remarks

CEOP-HE is an ambitious project aiming to promote an integrate CEOP-HE is an ambitious project aiming to promote an integrate approach in the study of high elevate areas.approach in the study of high elevate areas.

Looking on hydro-meteorological and energy cycles, HE approaches Looking on hydro-meteorological and energy cycles, HE approaches will considers disciplines like atmospheric physic, atmospheric will considers disciplines like atmospheric physic, atmospheric chemistry, glaciology, palaeolimnology, etc.chemistry, glaciology, palaeolimnology, etc.

The contributions of the all scientific community will be necessary to start this activities!


Many thanks for your attentionMany thanks for your attention

Documents

First CEOP-HE/CEOP-AEGIS Meeting June 29-30,2009 - Milan, Italy High Elevations Initiative: High Elevations Initiative: status and perspective status and