Mt. Rwenzori (Elena Glacier, Uganda)

The Rwenzori Mountains (called also “Mountains of the Moon”), with heights of up to 5,109 m asl., are located in the central Africa, on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the Ugandan National Park an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the Rwenzori Range some of the main peaks are covered with permanent snow and glacier, while the lower slopes are covered with dense forest. Besides there are several massifs such as Point Margherita, the third highest African summit after, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya.

The first AWS (Automatic Weather Station) RW was installed, in Uganda, in the western part of the Stanley Plateau, on July 18, 2006. This station worked in continuous from 2006 to 2009. In 2009 the station interruppted its work due to difficult environmental conditions, and in 2013 this station was replaced with a new one.

Geographical coordinates:

- Latitude: 0° 22' 34.55" N

- Longitude: 29° 52' 43.24" E

- Elevation: 4.750 m a.s.l.

Citation proposal
(2011) . Mt. Rwenzori (Elena Glacier, Uganda). https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/f6d92273-3cfb-4ec9-a627-f2b8850f8b8e

Simple

Date ( Publication ): 2011-04-12T19:08:00

Edition

Purpose

The first AWS provided in continuous, till 2009, 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).

In 2013 the new station has been equipped also with sensors to measure albedo and snow level.

Status: Historical archive

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

Keywords ( Theme )

SHARE , NEXTDATA , monitoring network , high altitude station

Keywords ( Place )

Rwenzori Range , Elena Glacier , Rwenzori Mountain National Park

GEMET themes ( Theme )

air , climate , natural areas , pollution , research

Use limitation: Data Sharing and Publication Policy at DISTRIBUTION SECTION

Access constraints: Intellectual property rights

Other constraints

Spatial representation type: Vector

Character set: UTF8

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
Geoscientific information
Environment

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

Topology level: Geometry only

Geometric object type: Point

Geometric object count: 13

OnLine resource: gn:share_station
Show geographic position

OnLine resource: View in Google Earth
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OnLine resource: https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/f6d92273-3cfb-4ec9-a627-f2b8850f8b8e/attachments/Data%20Usage%20Policy.pdf

Hierarchy level: Series

Statement

The automatic weather stations (AWS) for monitor meteorological conditions are currently included in the SHARE network.

An automatic weather station (AWS) is defined as a “meteorological station at which observations are made and transmitted automatically” (WMO, 1992a).

In particular, in the framework of the SHARE project for all parameters, the data has been visually checked, looking for extremely and unusual low/high values and/or periods with constant values.