here - CEOP-HE

CAMP/Himalayas Network
(Pyramid AWS, 5,050 m)
Pakistani Karakorum Network
(Urdukas AWS, 4,000 m)
Fig. 6: High altitude Reference Sites located in the Himalayan and Karakorum regions and included in the CEOP network. These
AWS represent the initial stage of implementation of a global HE Network (Photos courtesy of Ev-K2-CNR Archive).
3.2.3 From CEOP-HE to HE-Net.
The framework of SHARE activities envisages the project to create an integrated high mountain
network, clustering specific regional networks of existing observatories devoted to the monitoring of
the environment in mountain regions.
Preliminary HE activities will focus on a census of existing stations on a global scale, in order to
select stations beyond those included in CEOP-HE that could become part of HE-Net. During this
activity, an indicative altitude of 2,500 m asl will be considered.
Within this context, several long term monitoring stations, no longer operative, could provide an
important contribution to filling the regional gaps in the HE-Net, both through the collected long
term data and, if reactivated, by being included in the current HE network. Identification of such
stations within this framework might also provide an input for local and international research
infrastructures to consider the possibility of re-establishing their regular operation.
3.2.3 Improving observation techniques at high elevations
High elevated areas are always heterogeneous and have a complex orography. To carry out
observations over high elevated areas as many Comprehensive Observation and Research Stations
(CORS) and AWS as possible should be set up, together with facilities for automatic data
transmission. Satellite and ground-based remote sensing observations are an additional effective
means of contributing spatially distributed data.
Each CORS should contain an Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) tower (measuring wind speed,
wind direction, air temperature, and humidity at five-levels), a four-component radiation system, a
five-level soil moisture and soil temperature measurement system (SMTMS), a GPS radiosonde and
precipitable water observation system, a wind profiler and RASS (Radio Acoustic Sounding System),
a sonic turbulent measurement system and CO2/H2O flux measurement system, a precipitation and
snow-cover monitoring system, and a soil heat flux measurement system.
Each AWS should instead install equipment to measure wind speed, wind direction, air
temperature and humidity at three-levels, the radiation system, the SMTMS, the precipitation and
snow depth system, and the soil heat flux system. Both CORS and AWS will monitor the
atmosphere (from stratosphere to surface layer) as well as ground surface processes over the high
elevated area.
Measurement of solid precipitation in high elevated areas without commercial power supply poses a
special problem, and development of new measurement devices is another key issue for the
improvement of AWS. AWS structures disturb the natural condition of snow cover accumulation,
and single point measurements of a snow depth sensor cannot evaluate the patchy distribution of
snow cover in a small area. Discontinuous snow cover under typical HE conditions of low
CEOP-HE
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