Join GEO Mountains online!

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 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 Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region with a view to ultimately informing effective climate change adaptation solutions.  

The aims of the workshops are to: 

1. Explore 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. Establish stronger links, understanding, and exchange of data and capacities between the research community and national hydrometeorological (and other environmental monitoring) agencies; 
3. Identify 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 according to sub-region or discipline with subsequent plenary reporting, depending upon the eventual number of participants. The workshop will seek to develop a comprehensive overview of why 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, as well as opportunities for embedding students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs), especially those affiliated with the Himalayan University Consortium, into ongoing monitoring activities more extensively, and 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. 

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 in both research and operational contexts. 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:

Sunday 5th November 

Evening: Welcome Dinner

Monday 6th November

9:00 – 09:30: Welcome, introduction & updates on GEO Mountains recent activities, Dr. James Thornton (MRI)

9:30 – 9:50: Introduction on the general concept of Mountain Observatories & Q&A, Prof. Maria Shahgedanova (University of Reading and MRI)

09:50 – 10:10: Introductory presentation from ICIMOD, Sudip Pradhan (ICIMOD) TBC

10:10 – 10:45: Break

11:00 – 12:00: Presentation on existing mountain observatory / experimental basin / local network # 1

12:00 – 13:30: Lunch

13:30 – 14:30: Presentation on existing mountain observatory / experimental basin / local network # 2

14:30 – 15:30: Discussion #1: Data management and availability / exchange between monitoring sites and with the wider community: challenges and opportunities

15:30 – 16:00: Break

16:00 – 17:00: Discussion #2: Opportunities to further share capacities between and embed student / ECR projects within existing monitoring sites

17:00 – 17:15: Short summary and conclusion on the day

17:15 – 18:00: ECR Poster session & GEO Mountains drinks reception

Tuesday 7^th November

9:00 – 9:20 Ttitle TBC, Maroof Hamid (GLORIA)

9:20 – 09:40: The vision of the WMO Research Board on Data Exchange with the Research Sector, Adina Croitoru (WMO)

09:40 – 10:00: Break

10:00 – 11:00: Flash talk Sessions from NHMS on their mountain monitoring activities, data sharing provision, and derived services (including Q&A)

11:00 – 12:00: Discussion #3. Challenges and opportunities to enhance sharing of capacities and data between the research and operational communities

12:00 – 13:00: Lunch

13:00 – 13:20: Presentation on existing socio-economic data / examples of the integration of socio-economic and biophysical data, Amina Maharjan (ICIMOD)

13:20 – 13:40: Presentation of existing socio-economic data / examples of the integration of socio-economic and biophysical data #2

13:40 – 15:30: Presentation and activity on identifying “Essential Socioeconomic Variables” for general applications across the HKH (contribution to GEO Mountains’ Task Group 2.3), led by James Thornton, Amina Maharjan, and Jakob Steiner

15:30 – 16:00: Short summary and conclusion on 2^nd day

Wednesday 8^th November

9:00 – 10:30: Discussion #4. Identifying potential high impact projects that could be addressed in a collaborative fashion using existing data (for potential collaborative follow up work)

10:30 – 12:00: Summary, conclusion & next steps

Workshop ends

The event will be held in English and will be free of charge. The number of places is limited. Please note that in-person registrations are closed, but you can still register for online participation until Monday 23 October. 

The flyer of the workshop is can be downloaded here. 

Register here

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Cover image by Mamun Srizon.