Automatic Weather Station

The AWS (Automatic Weather Station) RW has been installed, in Uganda, on July 18, 2006 and it is now part of a network of three stations located in the Rwenzori National Park characterized by an alpine highland of glaciers, snowfields and lakes with distinct vegetation zones, several endangered species and the richest mountain flora in Africa other than a very unusual cloud forest (UNEP, WCMC, 2006).

This AWS provides continuous measurements of the seven standard meteorological parameters: air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, global solar radiation and total precipitation

Citation proposal
(2011) . Automatic Weather Station. https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/bf11e399-d424-444d-8248-423f0bf14845

Simple

Date ( Publication ): 2011-03-30T17:51:00

Purpose: The Rwenzori observations will permit to study physical and dynamical processes at African high elevations in the framework of SHARE and GEWEX-CEOP HE programs to improve our understanding of variability and change in hydrological and energy cycles and their role in the climate system.

Status: On going

Point of contact

Ev-K2-CNR

Via San Bernardino 145 Bergamo BG 24126 Italy

+39 035 3230511

+39 035 3230551

Website: http://www.evk2cnr.org/

Maintenance and update frequency: As needed

GEMET ( Theme )

thermal power plant

Keywords

SHARE , Network , Station , High Altitude

Use limitation: No conditions apply

Access constraints: Copyright

Other constraints

Metadata language: eng

Character set: UTF8

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Supplemental Information

Reference system identifier: EPSG / WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) / 7.4

Topology level: Geometry only

Geometric object type: Point

Geometric object count: 13

OnLine resource: SHARE Geonetwork portal
SHARE Geonetwork portal

Hierarchy level: Series

Statement

In the framework of SHARE (Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment) project of Ev-K2-CNR the first permanent Automatic Weather Station (AWS) has been installed in Uganda, on July 18, 2006 at 4,750 m asl in the western part of the Stanley Plateau, the biggest Ruwenzori glacial mass. The AWS is now part of a network of three stations located in the Ruwenzori National Park characterized by an alpine highland of glaciers, snowfields and lakes with distinct vegetation zones, several endangered species and the richest mountain flora in Africa other than a very unusual cloud forest (UNEP, WCMC, 2006). This AWS is similar to the other Ev-K2-CNR AWSs already installed in the high altitude regions of Himalaya and Karakorum. They provide continuous measurements of the seven meteorological standard parameters of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, global solar radiation and total precipitation. In autumn and spring the high mountain climate is subjected to heavy precipitation, while winter and summer are very dry seasons. The collected information will contribute to better understanding the impacts of climate change on glaciers, related particularly in this case to one of the most important glacial system of the African Region. The Rwenzori observations will permit to study physical and dynamical processes at African high elevations in the framework of SHARE and GEWEX-CEOP HE programs to improve our understanding of variability and change in hydrological and energy cycles and their role in the climate system.

This AWS provides continuous measurements of the seven standard meteorological parameters:

- air temperature (°C);

- relative humidity(%);

- wind speed (m/s);

- wind direction (degree);

- atmospheric pressure (hPa);

- global solar radiation (W/m2);

- total precipitation (mm).