Climate indicators on the local scale for past, present and future and platform data management

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jörg Bendix; Professorin Dr. Katja Trachte
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems ; Physical Geography
• Term: from 2013 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 227693446

• Final Report Year: 2019

Final Report Abstract

The climate of South Ecuador is characterized by the complex terrain of the Andes Mountains traversing the country in north-south direction, which cause a high variability of temperature and precipitation patterns across small scales. In order to adequately capture changes in environmental conditions in such a heterogeneous region, high resolution area-wide information is required which is often missing. Therefore, the objective of this subproject was the generation of a high resolution climate indicator system for South Ecuador (hrCIS|SE) relevant for ecosystem research. On the basis of a dynamical downscaling approach from the global to the local scale the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was applied to derive spatial-explicit climate indicators (e.g. temperature, precipitation, clouds, relative humidity, wind field) for the ecosystems mountain rain and dry forest as well as the Paramo. A sensitivity study testing initial and lateral boundary conditions as well as physics parameterization scheme combinations was performed to adjust the model to the challenging complex area of the Andes Mountains. The model output was compared to in-situ measurement data as well as to remote sensing products. Due to the high variability of the climate indicators, site specific analysis regarding clouds and precipitation regimes were conducted. Using atmospheric remote sensing mesoscale convective cloud systems were detected over a 10-year time period. Their occurrences could be linked to large scale circulation patterns such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. These results supported the understanding of clouds and precipitation formation processes in the WRF model, which improved the accuracy of the simulation results and thus, the reliability of the hrCIS|SE. Based on the hrCIS|SE over the time period December 1994 to December 2017 recent trends in temperature and precipitation could be identified. While an overall warming of the South Ecuadorian region was revealed, the rain amount decreases especially in the mountain rain forest and the Paramo. Regarding climate extremes changes in rain intensities were found, which point to more convective activities. With respect to scenario RCP2.8 as well as RCP8.5 these changes will intensify until the end of the century as examined in statistical downscaling approaches. The knowledge gained encompass (i) the detection of recent trends in climate conditions on ecosystem level, (ii) the detection of increasing climate extremes and rainfall composition and (iii) future trends on the basis of RCP scenarios as an assessment of potential impacts on ecosystems biodiversity. The subproject was responsible for data management and scientific administration of the entire DFG-funded part of the platform program (PAK823-825). 181 new datasets and 213 new publications were uploaded and curated to the data warehouse (DW) in the duration of the program. The data warehouse was extended e.g. by automatic data ingesting routines including quality control and data correction / gap filling. Furthermore, analysis tools working on DW data with R were developed. Knowledge transfer to the researcher of the Ecuadorian counterparts (SENESCYT partner projects) and the non-university partners (e.g. data management workshops) regarding data management was conducted. The subproject operated the platform including its infrastructure (research station, field infrastructure, project cars etc.) and managed the researchstakeholder networks as well as the knowledge transfer activities of the program.

Publications

• (2016): A new class of quality controls for micrometeorological data in complex tropical environments. J. of Atmos. and Ocean Techn. 33, 169-183
  Rollenbeck, R., Trachte, K. & Bendix, J.
  
• (2016): Rainfall and Cloud Dynamics in the Andes: A Southern Ecuador Case Study. Advances in Meteorology 15
  Campozano, L., R. Celleri, K. Trachte, J. Bendix & E Samaniego
  
• (2017): Climate indicators on the local scale for past, present and future. In: Beck, E. et al. (Eds.) Landscape Restoration, Sustainable Use and Cross-scale Monitoring of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions. NCI Loja, pp. 177-190
  Trachte, K. & Bendix, J.
  
• (2017): Environmental data management. In: Beck, E. et al. (Eds.) Landscape Restoration, Sustainable Use and Cross-scale Monitoring of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions. NCI Loja, pp. 191-204
  Rollenbeck, R., Siddons, D., Dobbermann, M. & Bendix, J.
  
• (2018): Atmospheric Moisture Pathways to the Highlands of the Tropical Andes: Analyzing the Effects of Spectral Nudging on Different Driving Fields for Regional Climate Modeling. Atmosphere 9, 1-24
  Trachte, K.
  
• Climatology and teleconnections of Mesoscale convective systems in an Andean basin in southern Ecuador: The case of the Paute basin. Advances in Meteorology 2018, 1-13
  Campozano, L., K. Trachte, R. Celleri, E. Samaniego, J. Bendix, C. Albuja & J. Mejia