Resource information
Hydrometeorological monitoring, as
discussed here, describes the activities required to
characterize the properties and processes of the hydrosphere
as it exists in the three-dimensional mesoscale environment
of the high-mountain catchment basins of the Hindu
Kush-Himalaya (HKH) Mountains. Credible monitoring involves:
(a) functional institutions; (b) operational instruments;
(c) trained, motivated individuals; (d) scientific
procedures; and (e) dedicated funding. Establishing a
regional hydro-meteorological research facility in the HKH
Mountains will involve developing solutions in the areas of
integrated data collection and analysis procedures,
instrument selection and placement, compatibility of
monitoring instruments and procedures, training of
personnel, procedures related to scale and modeling,
ensuring accessibility of monitoring sites, and management,
analysis, and archiving of the acquired data, all in the
context of processes within the mountain basins, not in the
adjacent lowlands. Mountain hydrometeorology is defined by a
set of complex, three-dimensional, biophysical environments,
produced by interactions among terrain, geology, and
meteorology. The homogeneity seen from the distant lowlands
becomes a complex mosaic of environments within the
headwater basins. Altitude determines the properties of an
atmospheric column extending upwards from a point within the
mountains. These atmospheric properties determine the
potential water and energy budgets at a point, or within a
basin, in the mountains. Relief, slope aspect and angle,
defines local topography.
