IDENTIFICATION OF LOCAL CLIMATE CONDITIONS IMPORTANT FOR REINDEER HERDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF BASIC CLIMATE SCENARIOS

Principal Investigator: Dr. Inga Hanssen-Bauer

Participants: Norwegian Meterological Institute.

Objectives: a) To determine the extent to which the meteorological parameters can, singly or combined in indices, provide a biologically meaningful description of the local conditions that influence the food supply for reindeer. b) To produce basic local climate scenarios that can form the basis for the development of customised projections for reindeer herding.

Data: Data on local weather conditions, (temperature, precipitation, snow precipitation/cover/depth) at selected sites at reindeer pastures for which long term records are available. Herders’ description of regional variation in the types of weather that influence snow conditions in ways important for reindeer herding. We have access to a long series of meteorological from Finnmark and Salekhard Yamal Nenets AO. Methods: Advanced spatial interpolation using GIS. Where spatial data (e.g. climate elements) and topography or other land surface characteristics are interdependent, a GIS can be used to develop advanced interpolation techniques that greatly improve the spatial description relative to the original data or standard interpolation techniques.

This first means using a GIS analysis of spatial variation in climate conditions. Meteorological data are applied in combination with a topographical map and advanced interpolation techniques to produce climatological maps with increased resolution over Finnmark and Russia. In Finnmark the resolution will be 1 km. In Russia, it will be limited by available data. Another task in this WP will be analysing and codifying herders' information on types of weather conditions and using herders’ information to define meteorological indicators of grazing conditions. From this information, GIS maps of spatial and temporal variation in grazing conditions based on herders’ characterisation of the areas will be developed.

These maps will be compared and if the fit is good, then meteorological data will be modified according to herders’ descriptions and develop a useful description of environmental conditions likely to be of interest for reindeer husbandry. These tasks will be coupled with a broad downscaling of temperature and precipitation data for weather stations with long observational series in northern Fennoscandia and Russia.