Attendance report Marilen
I attended the GEO-GNOME workshop on 'Essential Climate Variables for Observations in Mountains' which was held in Berne, Switzerland 24-26th of June 2019. The late june heatwave that just started to hit made it seem even more urgent to talk about climate change among sweating mountain scientists. We had very heated discussion and the steam on the photo below is very much reflecting the true conditions in the room.
The event was co-organized by the MRI (Mountain Research Initiative) and GEO-GNOME (Global Network for Observation and Information in Mountain Environments). We were experts from different scientific backgrounds, but all with mountains at the heart of their research. We gathered with the aim to discuss and select the most relevant indicator variables for climate change observation in mountains. As a starting point served previously the defined 54 Essential Climate Variables by GCOS (Global Climate observing system), but those had to be condensed and screened for relevance in a mountain context.
To feed the following discussions, parts of the workshop days were dedicated to short presentations by participants working either on mountain cryosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere or biosphere. In the remaining time, group work helped to define key climate change processes and their connected most relevant indicator variables. For the selected final variables, we additionally listed in-situ and remote-sensing monitoring methods which are feasible to apply in current mountain research efforts.
For us as P³ it was important to take part in this discussion in order to contribute with our knowledge on the aquatic biosphere as well as to benefit from fruitful interdisciplinary discussions around indicators of climate change in mountains.
Thanks MRI / GEO-GNOME for organizing this workshop!
To know more, stay updated by checking the MRI website http://www.mountainresearchinitiative.org/index.php