Pre-Alpine Observatory
The Pre-Alpine observatory is the southernmost of the four German TERENO observatories and is operated since 2008 by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) at its Campus Alpin, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany). The TERENO Pre-Alpine Observatory covers parts of the Bavarian Alps (Ammergau Mountains) and their foreland and comprises various measuring sites (including ICOS sites) spanning an elevation from 1600 to 600 m a.s.l. located in the Ammer (709 km2) and Rott (56 km2) catchments. Main land use is forest and grasslands the latter spanning from intensive dairy farming in the forelands to alpine grassing systems in higher elevation. The highest point is at 2185 m a.s.l. in the Ammergau Alps and the outflow is at 533 m a.s.l. Due to the complex topography, the catchment is characterised by large north-south differentiations in soils, land-use and climate. Long-term mean annual precipitation in the northern part is around 1100 mm/a while the southern part with the summits of the Ammer Alps receives more than 2000 mm/a. Maximum precipitation is in summer. The mean annual temperature is around 7-8 °C in the alpine forelands and approx 4-5 °C in the southern mountainous part of the catchment. Its area includes the Hohenpeissenberg and thereby benefits from the long-term hydrometeorological observations of the DWD observatory (since 1781).
Overview of the Pre-Alpine Observatory
TERENO Pre-Alpine observations have been used in conjunction with physically based process models to examine the impacts of land cover–management and climate change on ecosystem-atmosphere cycling of energy (e.g., large-eddy simulation model PALM), water (e.g., WaSiM and GEOtop), as well as C and N (e.g., LandscapeDNDC).
The TERENO Pre-Alpine Observatory is regionally well integrated because it complements networks of the German Weather Service and the Bavarian Environmental Agency. TERENO pre-alpine research is conducted in close cooperation with farmers and other stakeholders (Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture) who are interested in climate adapted management strategies.
Reference:
Kiese, R., Fersch B., Baessler C., Brosy C., Butterbach-Bahl K., Chwala C., Dannenmann M., Fu J., Gasche R., Grote R., Jahn C., Klatt J., Kunstmann H., Mauder M., Rödiger T., Smiatek G., Soltani M., Steinbrecher R., Völksch I., Werhahn J., Wolf B., Zeeman M., Schmid H.P. (2018). The TERENO-preAlpine Observatory: integrating meteorological, hydrological and biogeochemical measurements and modelling. Vadose Zone Journal. 10.2136/vzj2018.03.0060.