Mountains witnesses of global changes

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Venue: Minister of Regional Affairs, Office of the Prime Minister, Palazzo Cornaro - Salone Verde, Via della Stamperia, 8, Rome  

MOTIVATION, BACKGROUND, SCIENTIFIC FIELDS

From an environmental point of view, mountains are particularly sensitive and important for monitoring the state of health of our planet.  Only through distribution of meteo-climatic and atmospheric composition monitoring points in mountain regions, coupled with modelling simulations, will we be able to thoroughly analyze complex pollutant transport mechanisms and better understand imminent global changes.  The Himalayan - Karakoram range, for its elevation and geographic location, represents one of the ideal places for studying long-range pollutant transport systems on a regional scale and for monitoring changes induced by mechanisms that act on global scale through monsoon circulation.
The Ev-K2-CNR Committee promotes interdisciplinary remote area research in environmental and earth sciences. Recently it has launched the project SHARE – Asia (Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment in Asia) for development of an integrated system of measurements which will contribute to increasing general scientific knowledge on climatic and pollution-related processes while helping build local capacity for monitoring the relevant phenomena.
Ev-K²-CNR began its Himalayan monsoon climate research in 1990 with the installation of the first automatic weather station of its Pyramid Meteo Network (PMN), a climate monitoring network now comprising seven stations installed in Nepal’s Sagarmatha National Park/SNP Buffer Zone area from Lukla (2660 m a.s.l.) to Lobuche (site of the Pyramid International Laboratory-Observatory, 5050 m a.s.l.). In 2004, their SHARE-Asia monitoring network was extended to the Karakoram range with the installation of an automatic weather station on the Baltoro glacier near Urdukas (4000 m a.s.l.) in  Pakistan. The PMN in Nepal is part of the international project CEOP (Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period) that studies water and energy fluxes and their influence on general atmospheric circulation.  The Pyramid has also recently been chosen as an Exploratory Site to be added to the monitoring network of the Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABC) Project, promoted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for studying impacts of atmospheric pollutants in the Asian troposphere on the regional and global physical-climate system, as well as on agriculture, the water cycle and human health.

THE INITIATIVE

The meeting, organized by the Ev-K²-CNR Committee and promoted by the National Research Council (CNR) in collaboration with the Italian National Mountain Institute (IMONT),, aims to highlight the uniqueness of the scientific work of Ev-K2-CNR in these important international projects.  Their scientific role will be evidenced by the contributions foreseen from some of the world’s top experts in mountain research, while discussions will be extended to involve representatives of the most important scientific programs such as IGAC (International Global Atmospheric Chemistry) and GAW (Global Atmospheric Watch). The Ev-K²-CNR Committee thus aims to create a unique opportunity for dialogue between major environmental scientists and experts, highlighting the close relationship between diverse themes with a common underlying thread: in-depth comprehension of the environmental phenomena which are determining the health of our planet.

“Mountains, witnesses of global changes" Secretariat:

Elisa Vuillermoz
Ev-K²-CNR Committee
Via San Bernardino 145
24126 Bergamo - Italy
Phone: +39/035/3230513
Fax: +39/035/3230541
E-mail: elisa.vuillermoz@evk2cnr.org

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