BNPP/ASB Functional Value of Biodiversity Project – Phase II 

3.8 Central America meso-model

 Amendment to Activity 2 Implementation Protocols based on discussions during BNPP team meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, 11-12 October 2003:

The original thinking regarding development of a meso-scale model for Central America was that this could be an extension of the pan-tropical analysis implemented by the UHN team. However, one of the decisions taken at the Prague meeting was that the current version of the Water Balance Model of UNH is not an appropriate tool for basins of less than 30,000 km2 (12 pixels). Because all Central American basins are smaller than the recommended minimum resolution of the current WBM version, it was decided that it would not be feasible to use the WBM to “zoom in” on Central America at higher resolution. 

Thus, in subsequent conversations and correspondence among Ken Chomitz, Charles Vorosmarty, and Tom Tomich during October, it was decided that because of the expansion over the past year of UNH efforts on the pan-tropical work (described in the Activity 1 Implementation Protocol) and because of promising prospects for important products from the pan-tropic analysis, that the project would be better served through focus  by UNH on the pan-tropical hydrological analysis and its integration with the UofW and ICRAF SE Asia results, and to consider finer resolution Central America work in the future.  Regarding future prospects, the UNH team are working in sustained fashion on higher resolution data sets, globally (8km), and could further enhance resolution across Central America to something even greater in the future (beyond the scope of BNPP Phase II). A dialogue has been opened with UNESCO's Office for Science and Technology for Latin America (Montevideo) to upgrade some of the existing hydromet data sets and blend these with high resolution topography and river networks. This could be the starting point for follow on work at finer resolution for a Central America meso-model at a later date. 

Design and update: Sandra Velarde

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Last updated: 01 December, 2003     ©2003 ASB. All rights reserved.