The Mountain Observatories Working Group brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of experts to build on the Global Network of Mountain Observatories (GNOMO), established in 2015 to create a network that would generate comparable data on mountain social-ecological systems, from climate and hydrology to ecology, human use, and governance. This Working Group aims to facilitate the development of a network of mountain super-sites where observations will be conducted at multi-thematic scale. These super-sites will also work as ‘hubs’ for regional monitoring.
Key Details
- Creation Date: 2019
- Current Phase: Second Phase
Objectives
- Facilitate the long-term multi- and inter-disciplinary monitoring of mountain environments
- Assist in the development of regional networks of mountain observatories
- Improve access to information collected by mountain observatories
Working Group Leads and Members
Working Group Lead
- Maria Shahgedanova, University of Reading, UK | Visit Webpage
Members
- Aster Gebrekirstos, World Agroforestry Centre, Kenya
- Ricardo Grau, National University of Tucumán, Argentina
- Christian Huggel, University of Zürich, Switzerland
- Rob Marchant, University of York, UK
- Mathias Vuille, University at Albany, USA
Scope / Topics
List of the primary topics and themes the working group focuses on:
- Assisting communities of researchers and practitioners in building long-term monitoring networks in mountains
- Developing metrics and indicators to be monitored by mountain observatories to ensure consistency and comparability of data in collaboration with GEO Mountains and Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) programs and thematic and regional networks
- Providing information about mountain observatories and networks
Planned Activities and Outputs for 2024-2025
- Establishing collaboration with regional and thematic networks to develop long-term monitoring in the target regions
- Virtual Alpine Observatory (with the focus on the Caucasus region)
- Third Pole Regional Climate Centre / Network
- IAEA ‘Understanding glacier melt through isotope analysis’ Collaborative Research Project
- Andean Climate Change – Observations, Research and Discovery (ACCORD) Programme aimed at improving observations and creation of a shared observational database in the Andes
- Contributing to the GEO Symposium and ODOK Workshop and the development of a new GEO Work Programme
- Contributing to the International Mountain Conference (2025) where sessions dedicated to interdisciplinary monitoring, observations, and data are planned
- Collaboration with the Elevation-dependent Climate Change group assisting in the production of publications
- Assisting the UHOP project in the development of high-elevation monitoring
- Contributing to the Mountain Valorisation through Interconnectedness and Green growth (MOVING) project
Outputs, Achievements, and News
Publications
- Thornton, J. , Pepin, N. , Shahgedanova, M. ORC id 0000-0002-2320-3885 , Adler, C. (2022) Coverage of in situ climatological observations in the world’s mountains. Frontiers in climate , 4 ISSN: 2624-9553. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.814181
- ·Shahgedanova, M., Adler, C., Gebrekirstos, A., Grau, H. R., Huggel, C., Marchant, R., Pepin, N., Vanacker, V., Viviroli, D., & Vuille, M. (2021). Mountain Observatories: Status and Prospects for Enhancing and Connecting a Global Community. Mountain Research and Development, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-20-00054.1
Events and Presentations
- ‘Essential Mountain Climate Variables’ presentation delivered at the inaugural forum of the Third Pole Regional Climate Centre / Network (June 2024)
- GEO Mountains Regional Workshop Series (2023), Read more
- Central Asia: April 2023
- High Mountain Asia: November 2023
- South Caucasus: July 2023
- East Africa: October 2023
- Tropical Andes: February 2024
- Inter- and transdisciplinary mountain data across Central Asia: Identifying user requirements and access preferences (October 2021) Read more
Products
- Assisting GEO Mountains with developing an inventory of predominantly research-oriented in situ mountain observation infrastructure, continuing and expanding the legacy of GNOMO (while not all sites in the GEO Mountains inventory are “observatories” according to the definition in Shahgedanova et al. (2021)
- Provision of metadata on and data from the Central Asia Mountain Observatories Network. The development of this product was funded by the MRI Small Grants scheme, project CAMON Open Science.
- Provision of metadata on and data from the Network of the Andean Socio-ecological Observatories
News
- Mountain Observatories: Status and Prospects to Enhance and Connect a Global Community (30 June 2021), Read more
- Updates From the MRI Working Groups (24 February 2021), Read more
- Mountain Observatories Working Group Represented MRI at the International Mountain Conference 2019 (30 September 2019), Read more
- GEO-GNOME Workshop on Essential Climate Variables for Mountains (30 September 2019), Read more
How to Join
As community-led activities, these Working Groups are open to anyone from the MRI network to participate and contribute to the Working Group’s work plan. Early career researchers (typically up to 5 years since attaining a postgraduate degree), women, and researchers and practitioners from developing countries and less represented mountain regions are particularly encouraged to join and participate. Please contact the Working Group lead to seek information on how to join:
- Maria Shahgedanova, University of Reading, UK | Visit Webpage
