A New Gewex Regional Hydroclimate Activity in Central Asia

In the early 1990s a newly formed GEWEX Program (Then called the Global Energy and Water cycle Experiment now: Global Energy and Water EXchanges project) launched a regional study to measure and model regional variations in the water and energy cycle. A continental scale experiment was needed to develop the ability to measure and model the components of the water and energy cycles over a macroscale land surfaces from smaller scale observations. These projects are now called Regional Hydroclimate Projects and are much broader than just the geophysical science and cover the entire earth system.In this presentation an overview of the evolution of these RHPs  is shown along with a vision on the current and future relevance and importance of such projects along with the necessary additional activities such as cross cutting activities to link regional science to global efforts. In particular the development of a new RHP in Central Asia will be highlighted and how it links to regional activities such as AsiaPEX and Third Pole Environment – Water Sustainability (TPE-WS) RHPs as well as other large scale activities in the region focused on  or related to high mountains, water sustainability and ecosystem health.