ANDEX is a scientific project organized in disciplinary teams, transversal lines, and integrative services (Fig. 1) which follow the two main themes:
- Water security for the Andean populations, and
- Reduction of risks associated with high-impact hydroclimatic events.
Below you’ll find an overview of the active projects categorized per main theme and disciplinary teams/transversal lines.
Projects
Reduction of risks associated with high-impact hydroclimatic event
Climatic and Meteorological Processes (ED01)
Coastal El Niño and its hydroclimatic impacts in the Andean region (Niño-ANDEX)
Co-Leads: Ken Takahashi, René Garreaud, Katerina Goubanova
Objective
Identify the mechanisms, stochastic forcings, precursor conditions, and aspects of the mean climate that determine the predictability and control the frequency and intensity of coastal El Niño events and their impacts in the Andean region.
Scientific Questions
- What are the impacts of coastal El Niño in the Andean region?
- What are the mechanisms and predictability of coastal El Niño events several months in advance?
- How will the frequency and intensity of coastal El Niño events and their impacts change with climate change?
Asim-ANDEX
Co-Leads: Rene Garreaud; L. Fita; J. Yepe
Objective
To design an optimized observational system at altitude for the improvement of weather forecasts in the Andean region.
Science Questions
What new observations achieve an improvement in short-term (hydro)meteorological forecasts?
Environmental and Ecological Changes (ED02)
Extreme hydro-meteorological events in the Andes: observed and projected changes and their impacts
Co-Leads: Paola Arias, Jhan-Carlo Espinoza, José Daniel Pabón
Objective
Identify how the occurrence and combination of different extreme hydro-meteorological event in the Andes has changed, what have been the main mechanisms that generate them, and the impacts produced on water security, food security, public health and ecosystems, as well as their possible future changes under climate change scenarios and changes in land use.
Science Question
- How has the occurrence and combination of different extreme hydro-meteorological events in the Andes changed and will continue to change?
- What have been the main drivers including changes on a global scale (e.g., climate change), regional scale (e.g., deforestation) and local scale (e.g., urbanization, loss of glaciers)?
- What impacts have they generated and could generate on water security, food security, food security, food security, public health and ecosystems?
Geomorphological and sedimentological changes associated with extreme hydroclimatic events in the Andes, causes and consequences
Co-Leads: Valentina Flores, Paola Arias, Jhan Carlo Espinoza.
Objective
To determine the influence of extreme hydroclimatic events on current surface geological processes and their evolution over time, in order to assess their potential impact on water and food security, health and ecosystems.
Science Questions
- What is the influence of extreme hydroclimatic events on the dynamics of surface geological processes?
- How can they affect water security, food security, health and ecosystems?
Vulnerability of Andean ecosystems and their services to environmental changes and extreme events at multiple scales
Co-Leads: –
Objective
To assess the vulnerability of Andean ecosystems and their services to environmental changes and extreme events at multiple scales.
Science Questions
- How can climate system alterations (including extreme events) impact the structure, composition, and function of Andean ecosystems, at different spatial and temporal scales?
- What implications can these changes and the occurrence of extreme events have on the benefits of nature for people?
- How is ecological vulnerability to climate change and the occurrence of extreme events spatially distributed?
- How is the distribution of vulnerability expected to change based on climate change projections for the region?
Nature-BasedSolutions / Community-Based Solutions (NBS/CBS)
Co-Leads: –
Objective
To evaluate the impact of comparable NBS/CBS experiences throughout the Andes on previous experiences with respect to the objectives of the question asked above
Science Question
To what extent and in what way does a nature-based solution and/or community-based solution (NBS/CBS) contribute to the objectives of ecosystem conservation and the improvement of water security and reduction of risks associated with hydroclimatic events of Andean communities?
Water Resources and Cryosphere (ED03)
Identifying the most vulnerable areas for extreme flooding in the tropical Andes
Co-Leads: Janet Barco, Germán Poveda
Objective
To develop a comprehensive assessment of the hydrological processes related to floods generation in the Andean region and to identify the most vulnerable areas for extreme flooding in the Andes.
Science Question
Which are the most vulnerable areas for extreme flooding in the Andes?
Science as the Basis of Sustainable Development (LT01)
ANDEX-IPCC Andean Hydroclimatic Scientific Knowledge for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Co-leads: Yamina Silva, Ken Takahashi, Jhan Carlo Espinoza
Objective
Increase the use of research on the Andean Region both in the region itself and in IPCC reports.
Science Question
How to include the use of Andean hydroclimatic scientific knowledge in the same region and in the IPCC reports?
Networked Capabilities: Strengthening Human Resources
Lead: Yamina Silva
Objective
To compile information on programs currently available in Latin America for the training/exchange of master/doctoral students in hydroclimate.
Science Questions
What Postgraduate training programs exist at the regional level to propose solutions to hydroclimatic events in the Andean region?
Hydroclimatic Modeling (LT03)
Publication of recent advances in atmospheric and hydrological modeling
Co-leads: Alejandro Martinez, Clementine Junquas/Pablo Mendoza, Camila Alvarez-Garreton
Objective
Publish review papers on atmospheric and hydrological modeling.
Science Question
What are the recent advances and challenges in atmospheric and hydrological modeling in the Andes?
CORDEX Flagship Pilot Study (FPS) ANDEX
Lead: Lluís Fita
Objective
To build a hydroclimatic simulation tool suitable for all the numerical data needs of Andean hydro-climatic sciences.
Science Question
How to adapt hydroclimatic modeling tools that respond to ANDEX?
Water security for the Andean populations
Climatic and Meteorological Processes (ED01)
PrecipANDEX
Co-Leads: –
Objective
To improve theunderstanding and modeling of the orographic processes of precipitation in the Andean region (1979-2023).
Science Question
How to improve the understanding and representation of orographic precipitation processes in regional models?
Water Resources and Cryosphere (ED03)
Hydrological and glaciological regionalization of the Andes
Co-leads: Mariano Masiokas, Thomas Condom, Jorge Molina
Objective
To collect and analyze existing information on surface water resources and the cryosphere in the Andes, in order to identify regions with similar characteristics that allow establishing a basis for subsequent studies at the scale of water basins.
Science Question
- What are the main hydrological and glaciological regions of the Andes?
- What specific characteristics differentiate them?
Estimation of the distribution of ice thicknesses of Andean glaciers
Co-leads: Antoine Rabatel, Lucas Ruiz
Objective
Improve estimates of the distribution of ice thickness and volume of Andean glaciers.
Science Question
How are the ice thicknesses of the Andean glaciers distributed?
Science as the Basis of Sustainable Development (LT01)
Interdisciplinary ANDEX
Lead: Eleonora González Porcel
Objective
Increase the interdisciplinarity of ANDEX, particularly in social sciences.
Scientific Question
How can the problems related to the water security of the Andean populations be addressed in a more comprehensive way?
ANDEX “ECOSYSTEM”
Lead: Isabel Moreno
Objective
Identify possible interactions between ANDEX and other actors. This is an institutional capacity building project.
Observations and Data (LT02)
Observatorio Andino
Co-leads: Mariano Masiokas, Thomas Condom
Objective
Expand and improve the spatial coverage and the processing and graphic presentation capabilities of the website “Snow Observatory of the Andes of Argentina and Chile” (https://observatorioandino. com/nieve/) to include the Andean region in its entirety and add, in addition to daily snow cover information, new glaciological and hydroclimatic variables that are available but dispersed in various internet repositories.
