BackgroundThe Andes cordillera runs near the west coast of South America from Venezuela (∼10°N) to the southern tip of the continent (∼53°S), thus encompassing a rich variety of mountain climates and ecosystems, from very humid conditions near the equator and over western Patagonia to the hyper arid conditions in the subtropics. Consistent with its continuity and height, the Andes also produces strong contrasting climate conditions along the eastern and western slopes and adjacent lowlands.
The Andes is a narrow, nearly two-dimensional mountain range, with the exception of a portion between 15°-22°S where it splits into two mountain ranges holding the South American Altiplano, a closed, high level (4000 m ASL) plateau. Likewise, the Andes splits in three branches to the north of the equator, with major rivers draining into the Caribbean Sea.
The Andes provides ecosystem services, starting with the provision of fresh water to nearly 80 million people in seven countries (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina), and at the same time sets the stage for the occurrence of disasters from hydrometeorological extreme events which periodically take a high toll in human and animal lives and, infrastructure and agriculture losses.
ANDEX RationaleIn recent years, scientific research in the Andes dealing with our understanding of interactions between hydrological, meteorological and atmospheric processes, has made interesting progress. In addition, the technological advances have allowed for improving hydrometeorological forecasting and climate prediction. In spite of these developments a comprehensive understanding of the Andean hydroclimate is still lacking, which is partly due to a deficient hydrometeorological monitoring network along the cordiller. While such integrative vision of basic hydroclimatic processes and climate variability is crucial to face the urgent challenges brought about by anthropogenic climate change as well as land use change and deforestation along the Andes.
ANDEX is a proposed
GEWEX Regional Hydroclimate Project (RHP) aiming at understanding, modelling and predicting the dynamics of the water and energy cycles over the Andes cordillera, at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, and their linkages with the surrounding oceans, land surface and major river basins. ANDEX will tackle a variety of research questions within the interests of the Andean countries and
GEWEX’s major goals. Moreover, the agenda ANDEX proposes will further the scientific development in South America through: (i) fostering regional cooperation among researchers and research programs, (ii) establishing a focused research agenda on fundamental issues of the Andes region main interests, (iii) creating the scientific framework to help decision making processes for the sustainable development of a highly environmentally and biogeophysically threatened region, (iv) connecting the Andean region with global and regional initiatives.
ThemesANDEX aims to understand, model, and predict the dynamics of the water and energy cycles over the Andes cordillera, which run from 10ºN to 53ºS and cross Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. More than 60 million inhabitants rely directly on the water resources provided by the Andes. At the same time they are also exposed to a suite of natural hazards imposed by such impressive geography and climate, ranging from very humid conditions near the equator and western Patagonia to the hyper arid conditions in the subtropics. The Andes also face enormous challenges from human encroachment, urbanization, climate variability, climate change, land use changes, and massive deforestation.
On the previous basis, we have identified four science themes and two cross-cutting themes
- Climate patterns and drivers
- Climate and environmental (LULC) changes
- High impact events
- Andean cryosphere
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