Periodic Report Summary 1 - CLARIS LPB (A Europe-South America network for climate change assessment and impact studies in La Plata Basin) The CLARIS LPB project main objectives are to design adaptation strategies for the agriculture and hydrology sectors of the Paraná-Plata basin (LPB) focusing on the 2010-2040 and 2070-2100 periods. To reach such objectives, the project gathers more than 160 scientists, engineers and students from a large variety of disciplines. Their specific objectives cover a large range of activities. During the first period (18 months) of the project, the activities were organised along the following lines: (i) communication and dissemination; (ii) climate data recollection and modelling studies; and (iii) coordination and initiation of agriculture and hydrology studies.Communication and dissemination activities fostered the multidisciplinary interactions between the partners and the integration of stakeholders. Moreover, a 'Young scientist group' and a 'Young scientist forum" were created. An exchange grant system was implemented and funded thirteen young scientists. In addition, twenty-eight students were funded to attend CLARIS LPB meetings. Other related activities were: a) the implementation of the web portal for communication and data access; b) the development of a software architecture for implementing applications freely accessed by all the partners; c) the development of a method for the combination of multi-model climate simulations; d) the evaluation of a questionnaire for the agriculture and hydrology study partners on needs of climate, biogeophysical and socio-economic data.Climate studies focused on: (i) compiling an unprecedented amount of daily past climate observations from thousands of meteorological stations in order to analyse, quality-control and grid these data for our objectives; (ii) investigating the mechanisms involved in the decadal variability using observations and global models; (iii) evaluating the skill of IPCC global models in simulating present climate variability investigating different time and space scales; (iii) performing a coordinated ensemble of regional simulations of the present climate using ERA Interim boundary conditions; and (iv) studying extreme events, their relationship with large-scale mechanisms and those most relevant for the agriculture and hydrology sectors.In terms of agriculture and hydrology studies, all groups agreed upon the use of the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to share their activities and methodologies.In terms of agriculture, two study sites were defined in Brazil, and three in Argentina, comprising small and large-scale farmers. The performed territorial scan will allow to identifying a farm typology, and to comparing land use and tenancy. Almost all partners are interacting with stakeholders at different levels from farmers to policy makers. Also, a series of dissemination activities have been undertaken, including our participation at Expodireto, an agricultural fair in Brazil, which received about 170,000 visitors.Finally, the hydrological studies covered many activities. First, two distributed hydrological models were set up, and one was applied to the Iberá ecosystem. In parallel, most of our activities were dedicated to data collection: (i) an inventory of floods in the Argentine part of LPB was carried out as a step toward the climate change impact assessment on lower Paraná water-way for oceanic boat navigation, on Buenos Aires urbanization beside delta front, and on manmade structure near river banks; (ii) a GIS database of LPB has been elaborated, in which the river system, hydrological stations, hydropower reservoirs, etc. are represented; (iii) a digital elevation model has been created; and (iv) a numerical tool was applied to evaluate the maximum potential hydropower in several sub-basins of LPB.All these activities allow the project now to focus on 21st century projections of climate, agriculture and hydrology conditions, and to initiate the design of adaptation strategies with stakeholders focusing on their vulnerabilities. Documenti correlati Periodic Report - CLARIS LPB (A Europe-South America network for climate change assessment and impact studies in La Plata Basin) Altri abstract Periodic Report Summary 2 - CLARIS LPB (A Europe-South America network for climate change assessment and impact studies in La Plata Basin)
