GEO Mountains Workshop: Interdisciplinary Monitoring, Data, and Capacity Sharing Across the Andes

This event is one of a series of engagements that GEO Mountains is undertaking during 2023 under the Adaptation at Altitude Programme.

The primary aim of the workshop, which forms one of a series of regional workshops that GEO Mountains are hosting in 2023 under the Adaptation at Altitude programme, is to provide a platform to bring together data providers and data users from a range of disciplines related to climate change and it’s impacts on environmental, ecological, and social systems across the Andes with a view to ultimately informing effective climate change adaptation solutions.  

Three specific themes are proposed: 

1. Exploring prospects for supporting ongoing efforts towards the establishment of a regional network (or sub-regional networks) of “Mountain Observatories” (MOs) which are multi-disciplinary and multi-method hubs, super-sites, or data rich regions at or across which long-term monitoring is conducted and training activities / student research projects are focused (Shahgedanova et al., 2021), with the resultant observations ideally being shared with the wider community; 
2. Establishing stronger links, understanding, and exchange of data and capacities between the research community and National Hydrometeorological (and other environmental monitoring) agencies and local decision makers;
3. Identifying opportunities to combine, integrate, or otherwise exploit existing datasets to address key outstanding scientific, practical, or policy-related issues via joint projects, especially related to the incorporation of socio-economic data.

The workshop will take a mixed format, with short invited presentations interspersed with ample opportunity for open discussion, likely in small groups depending upon the eventual number of participants. The workshop will seek to develop a comprehensive overview of what currently exists by way of cross-disciplinary in situ monitoring, which could eventually feed into refining GEO Mountains’ In Situ Inventory. On the basis of this, key gaps (spatial and/or disciplinary) can be identified. It is also indended to seek opportunities for embedding students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) into ongoing monitoring activities, as well as sharing capacities, equipment, and data between sites. The potential to increase the standardisation of protocols and instrumentation for certain types of measurements across multiple sites may also form a topic of discussion. 

Expected participants include scientists and practitioners working on in situ monitoring (across multiple disciplines), remote sensing, climate modelling / reanalysis topics (e.g. downscaling and bias correction), climate change impacts modelling (e.g. on hydrology, the cryosphere, and biosphere), climate-related natural hazard and risk quantification, citizen science (across various disciplines), and societal / economic data. If possible, some individuals responsible for the implementation of mitigation / adaptation measures and other decision-makers will also be invited. This broad list reflects the cross-disciplinary / integrated and “multi-method” remit of GEO Mountains.

Agenda

Tuesday, 20 February 2024

The first day will focus on interdisciplinary mountain data and observations from a research perspective. It will include presentations from ongoing monitoring campaigns and associated discussion, and will conclude with a poster session.

Wednesday, 21 February 2024

The second day will focus on interdisciplinary mountain data and observations from an operational perspective, and will explore opportunities to improve links between the operational and research communities. It will include presentations from National Hydro-Meteorological Agencies and other authorities conducting monitoring in mountains and associated discussions. A workshop dinner will be held in the evening.

Thursday, 22 February 2024

The final day will include visits to local institutes, enabling stronger links with decision makers and engagement with governance issues. There will also be the opportunity to identify potential high-impact collaborative projects.

The event will be held in Spanish, with English translation, and will be free of charge. The number of places for in-person participation is limited. The application deadline for physical attendees is 19 November 2023. Online participants can register until 13 February. 

The flyer of the workshop can be downloaded here. 

Apply here

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Cover image by Daniele Nabissi