1. Components of CEOP Regional climate foci State of the Implementation Planning of the High Elevation Working Group Gianni Tartari 1,2 and Elisa Vuillermoz 1 1 Ev-K²-CNR Committee, Bergamo & 2 National Research Council Water Research Institute, Brugherio, Milan, Italy The Seventh International Implementation Planning Meeting of the Coordinated Energy and Water Cycle Observations Project (CEOP) Bali, Indonesia 6–9 September 2007

2. Background Mountains represent unique areas for the detection of climate change and the assess the related impacts (Barry, 1981) at a global level. In mountain areas climate changes with height in relatively short horizontal distances, so does vegetation and hydrology (Whiteman, 2000). 25% of continental surfaces (Kapos et al., 2000) and about 26% of the worlds people resides within mountains or in the foothills of the mountains (Meybeck et al., 2001). 40% of global population lives in the watersheds of rivers originating in the planets different mountain ranges.

3. Background Factors that differentiate the mountain climates: Altitude is the most distinguishing and fundamental characteristic of mountain climates. Continentality refers to the proximity of a particular region to an ocean. Latitude refers to the tendency of orography to amplify some of the characteristics of tropical, mid-latitude and boreal climates. Topography play key role in determining local climates, in particular due to the slope, aspect, and exposure of the surface to climatic elements. …and more recently… Aerosols, because they play a key role in conditioning the climatic elements in some high altitude areas (Himalaya, Karakorum?, Ande?, Alps, etc.) changing the physical and dynamical processes of the atmosphere.

4. Component of CEOP: High-Elevation Acronym: HE Starting date: March 2007 Expected end date: December 2010 URL: http://www.CEOP-HE.org (in progress)http://www.CEOP-HE.org Chairs: Gianni Tartari Definition: High elevations are areas of the world characterized by low pressure where the climate is strongly influenced by continentality, latitude and topography. ( to be complete !) CEOP-HE is a Components of CEOP II project of projects, implemented as a component of the regional foci. HE would be a concerted, international and interdisciplinary effort to further the knowledge of the physical and dynamical processes in high altitude areas of the world.

5. The main purposes of HE: 1.individuate the high altitude monitoring stations and establish a geographically and well spatially distributed network of reference stations within CEOP II; 2.establish a coordinated activity between the high altitude climatic stations to address the data to GEOSS strategy and share to the scientific community; 3.provide QA/QC protocols for high altitude sites installation and for data representativeness; 4.contribute to the understanding of water and energy cycles in high elevation regions and study their role within the climate system by means of globally integrated analysis of CEOP reference sites data, remote sensing observations, models analysis etc.; 5.build synergies between meteorological-climate and hydrological studies in order to improve the management of water resources; 6.improve the forecast capabilities of extreme weather events in high altitudes; 7.contribute to the capacity building of the mountain population to manage the water cycle and prevent the social consequences of climatic change.

6. HE Observation sites HE Climatology HE Models (i.e. RCM, MCM) HE Aerosols climate interaction HE Water cycle HE Geographical Areas (4-5 experts) HE Data QA/QC Structure of HE To manage the HE Working Group activities, it has been individuated some principal key-issues for the start-up. Each issues will be coordinate by specific experts. Coordination Office of HE The Coordination Office of CEOP-High Elevation has been individuated at the EvK2CNR seat in Bergamo, Italy (CEOP-HE@evk2cnr.org) and the contact person is Elisa VuillermozCEOP-HE@evk2cnr.org

7. Control Run Mean Moisture Flux Reduced SM Experiment Anomalies with respect to control Cross section of the Moisture Flux A deeper boundary layer (higher top) that in turn has associated a higher LLJ; together with the reduction in atmospheric moisture content, a reduction of the convergence of moisture flux is observed. Curtesey of: H. Berbery, University of Maryland The northeastern part of Brazil, which does not have precipitation, has consistently a large divergence of moisture flux (negative values). The moisture flux convergence field near mountains exhibits a distorted pattern typical of all models and their difficulties to resolve the circulation near the steep Andes Mountains. Ref.: Collini, Berbery, Barros & Pyle. (In press). How does Soil Moisture Influence the Early Stages of the South American Monsoon?

8. The Elevated Heat Pump (EHP) hypothesis (Lau et al. 2006, Lau and Kim 2006) Warm W warm Normal monsoon Water cycle (mid-May to mid-June) e Warmer Cool Warm W EHP-accelerated Monsoon water cycle (mid-May –June) e EHP postulates: a) warming and moistening of the upper troposphere over the Tibetan Plateau b) an advance of the rainy season in northern India/Napal region in May-June c) In June-July, the increased convection spreads from the foothills of the Himalayas to central India, resulting in an intensification of the Indian monsoon. Curtsey of: W. K. M. Lau, Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA/GSFC

10. INTERACTIONS OF HIGH ELEVATION WITH OTHER CEOP-COMPONENTS Cold regions ???

11. Interactions and contributions SHARE/HE SHARE (Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment) is a multidisciplinary project of EvK2CNR Committee, that includes several research in the field of environmental and earth sciences, addressed to high elevation mountains of the world. SHARE could give its contribution in the understanding of water and energy cycle processes in that areas and in studying their role within climate system, thanks also the direct involvement of local decision makers and research institutes in different part of the World (Central Asia, Africa). SHARE has a long (20 yrs) experience in the installation and management of an high altitude monitoring network in Himalaya (6 AWSs), Karakorum (2 AWSs) and Ruwenzori, Africa (1 AWS) and also it supports some monitoring observatories in Alps. The EvK2CNR Committee considers as fundamental opportunity to coordinate the CEOP-HE.

13. Meteorological conditions: wind, temperature and relative humidity Monsoon Post-Monsoon Pre-monsoon Dry season Meteorology at the NCO-P site is driven by mountain/valley breeze regime except during summer monsoon MonsoonPre-monsoon Post Monsoon Dry season Pyramid Laboratory-Observatory, 5079 m Khumbu Valley, Mt. Everest Region, Nepal

14. 2006-2007 measurement: PM, BC and particles number Local dust is present and constitute a large fraction of particle mass. However, very elevated levels of PM1 are measured during the afternoon, especially during pre-monsoon season. The background values are very low (<1µg m -3 ) The site is characterized by high variability of particle number concentration, from a few hundreds (background during the night) up to several thousands part. cm -3 (> 20000 # cm -3 on a min average !!). Pyramid Laboratory-Observatory, 5079 m Khumbu Valley, Mt. Everest Region, Nepal

15. CEOP-HE activities planned within the end of 2007 Preliminary collection of information on high altitude monitoring sites (i.e. ClimATlas, Axel Thomas, Mainz University; GAW database, etc.); Contact the experts to complete the scientific board of HE; Establish the date of First High Elevation Expert Meeting to complete the discussion on scientific rationale and final contribution to CEOP SIP; Start to contacts national and international institutions to built a HE database and ;

16. General information Name referring/contact person/s Affiliation Address, Ph., Fax E-mail Measurement site information 2.a Geographic information Country Region Mountain area/chain CEOP Project – Working Group High Elevation Identification of potential Reference Stations of HE Network 2.d Indication of potential CEOP reference site Uniqueness Representativeness … Maintenance protocols Metadata features Data use Data policy Maps and pictures Available documentations Other information 2.c General description of the area Site 1) Name Geographic coordinates Elevation Date of installation Direct or remote surveillance Performed measurement Characteristics of the instrumentation Site 2) … 2.b General description of the area Orographic features Soil characteristic Vegetation cover Land use Accessibility … Questionnaire

17. Thanks

18. Coordination group: HE Climatology Kenichi Ueno, Tsukuba University, Japan Yaoming Ma, Institute of the Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bejing, China HE Observation sitesElisa Vuillermoz, Ev-K²-CNR Committee, Bergamo, Italy HE ModelsRaffaele Salerno, Epson Meteo Center, Milan, Italy HE Aerosols Paolo Bonasoni, National Research Council-Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Bologna, Italy HE Water cycleAxel Thomas, Mainz University & Institute of Geography, Justus Liebig University, Germany HE Areas experts Himalya Karakorum Alps Caucasus Andes Rock Mountains …