Development of a combined geographic and meteorological information system for the Andes region

Within the framework of an interdisciplinary international research project with contributions from mountain research institutes and universities of the USA, Austria, Switzerland and Japan, a Java-based combined geographic and meteorological information system for South America is under development, with a special focus on the Andes region of Chile, Argentina and Peru. The geographic part of the system includes a topography based on data of the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM, horizontal resolution approx. 90m) and representations of roads, rivers, frontiers and cities (all stored in formats close to ArcGIS). On top of various modes of terrain (elevation, slope, aspect, all for freely chosen thresholds and resolutions), meteorological information can be visualized in a variety of styles. The combined display of observations from various networks, of forecasts from numerical models like MM5 and of forecast errors will be possible. For a variety of parameters, meteorological input data may be subject to downscaling procedures using the VERA system (Vienna Enhanced Resolution Analysis), developed at the University of Vienna. Regarding features of the system specifically related to mountain areas, the high resolution terrain allows a good estimation of areas with snow accumulation in the case of forecast precipitation events. The easy detection and visualization of regions beyond the freezing level is possible. For the future the inclusion of the Swiss SNOWPACK model is planned.Pages: 2049-205

Desarrollo de metgis, un sistema combinado de información geográfica, meteorológica y de cobertura de nieve de alta resolución, para la región andina Development of metgis, a combined high-resolution system of geographic, meteorological and snow cover information for the andes region

En el marco de un proyecto de investigación interdisciplinario e internacional con participación de institutos de investigación de montaña y universidades de Estados Unidos, Austria, Suiza y Japón se construye MetGIS (Meteorological and Geographic Information System), un sistema Java de información geográfica y meteorológica para Sudamérica, focalizado en la región andina de Argentina, Chile y Perú. La sección geográfica incluye una topografía basada en datos SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topographic Missión) e información sobre las carreteras, las vías férreas, los ríos, las fronteras y las ciudades. Las gráficas de la topografía del terreno (la altitud, la pendiente y la orientación del mismo) sirven como fondo para la información meteorológica y nivológica. Con éste sistema será posible visualizar en forma combinada las observaciones de varias redes, los resultados de los pronósticos numéricos de modelos como el MM5 y los errores de dichos modelos. Los campos analizados y pronosticados pueden ser transformados a escalas de mayor resolución, usando métodos apropiados tales como el de "downscaling" (VERA = Viena Enhanced Resolution Analysis). Respecto a los rasgos del sistema, relacionados específicamente con áreas de montaña, los datos SRTM combinados con VERA permiten dar una buena estimación de las áreas con temperaturas bajo cero y acumulación de nieve. Se planea integrar en el futuro el modelo suizo SNOWPACK que realiza simulaciones de la cubierta de nieve.Within the framework of an interdisciplinary international research project with contributions from mountain research institutes and universities of the USA, Austria, Switzerland and Japan, a Java-based combined meteorological and geographic information system (named MetGIS) for South America is under development, with a special focus on the Andes region of Argentina, Chile and Peru. The geographic part of the system includes a topography based on data of the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and representations of roads, railway lines, rivers, frontiers and cities. On top of various modes of terrain (elevation, slope, aspect), meteorological and snow information can be visualized in a variety of styles. The combined display of observations from various networks, of forecasts from numerical models like MM5 and of forecast errors will be possible. For a variety of parameters, meteorological input data may be subject to downscaling procedures using the VERA system (Vienna Enhanced Resolution Analysis). Regarding features of the system specifically related to mountain areas, the SRTM data combined with VERA allows a good estimation of areas with temperatures below zero and snow accumulation. For the future the inclusion of the Swiss model SNOWPACK is planned which provides simulations of the snow cover