Open access "weather+" observation

The ever increasing complexity of Global Change with direct and indirect impacts for local livelihoods and their ecosystem services requires faster and more dedicated joint action for building resilience. What we base such transformative action on, to a major part, is science, and science is transparent collection and interpretation of data. 

Climate change, agriculture, forestry and tourism are interconnected cornerstones of change and resilience in mountain regions. The MonViso Institute (MVI) as real-world laboratory has an important function to observe, monitor and design action for resilience in local climate, in local biodiversity and ecosystem services, and in socio-economic processes of communities and of visitors. MVI is closely connected to the Mountain Resilience working group of the Mountain Research Initiative.

Weather data is one component of a whole range of data to observe for understanding and steering resilience; some can be quantified, some is so-called “tacit” knowledge, or “warm” data: experience, narratives, intuition, social dynamics, cultures, (...). 

The MVI contributes to the Global Network of Mountain Observatories (GNOMO), and we are developing timely ways and techniques to monitor different types of data, including climate, mobility behavior, tourism, the circularities in the local economy, and overall resilience.

This weather+ station is one element of such observation, and it is part of MVI’s overall “weaving” of resilience transition processes, both by direct action and by “interbeing”: just the fact you are reading about this here now, is part of change processes. We call this a “Fluid Observatory” as a kind of illustrative super-site observation.

The weather+ station we’ll build at the beginning of 2022 is a professional station, rigid to function in harsh mountain conditions, reliable and with accurate data, so it can serve global science standards. It will obtain data on precipitation, wind direction and speed, temperature, solar radiation, humidity, air pressure, plus particulate matter as indicator of air quality. For example, increasing tourism and its associated traffic negatively affect local air quality in otherwise clean mountain air. As well, we’ll have a high quality webcam with stunning views across the MVI campus at Serre Lamboi, towards Monte Viso. Visual observation is an important element in this project, and it allows people from anywhere to participate in mountain observation. Such data will be related with observations of social processes, e.g. social network analysis, tourism growth and cap numbers, perceived narratives.

All this data will be open access and publicly available via the internet, from the MVI website.

In total, we estimate costs of about 3000€ to establish this weather+ and webcam service at the MonViso Institute. Any contribution you can donate helps the MVI Association in offering this service to the public. Thank you. 

Donations to support and crowd-fund the open access mountain observatory weather+ station can be made to the bank account of the MonViso Institute Association.