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| SAFARI 2000 | |
|---|---|
| Name | SAFARI 2000 |
| Caption | Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) |
| Date | 2000 |
| Location | Southern Africa |
| Type | Earth science field campaign |
| Organizers | International Council for Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, European Space Agency |
| Participants | multinational research teams |
SAFARI 2000 SAFARI 2000 was a multinational field campaign focused on atmospheric chemistry, ecology, hydrology, and climate interactions over southern Africa during the year 2000. The project linked satellite remote sensing, aircraft campaigns, ground-based observatories, and modeling efforts to study biomass burning, aerosol transport, and trace gas emissions across the Kalahari Desert, Okavango Delta, Zambezi River, and surrounding biomes. SAFARI 2000 engaged agencies, universities, and research centers from United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Germany, France, and other nations to coordinate observations with global programs such as International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, Global Climate Observing System, and World Climate Research Programme.
SAFARI 2000 originated from concerns raised by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments, satellite observations from NOAA, ERS-2, and TERRA platforms, and regional studies by the Southern African Development Community and the South African National Biodiversity Institute. Primary objectives included quantifying biomass burning emissions observed by MODIS, characterizing aerosol optical depth measured by AERONET, and improving emission inventories used by EDGAR and REAS. Additional goals sought to enhance understanding of savanna fire regimes studied in the Okavango Delta and Kruger National Park and to link in situ chemistry measured by aircraft like the NASA DC-8 with land surface processes described in models such as LPJ-GUESS and CLM. The initiative responded to previous campaigns including ABLE, TRACE-A, and SAFARI 1992 and aimed to inform policy processes including discussions within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Coordination involved international organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Space Agency, the South African Weather Service, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Academic participants included researchers from University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, CNRS, and CSIRO. Field teams came from institutes like the South African National Space Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and World Meteorological Organization affiliated labs. Logistical support involved national agencies such as South African National Parks and regional authorities including Botswana Department of Meteorological Services and Zimbabwe Meteorological Services.
SAFARI 2000 integrated satellite remote sensing from platforms like Terra (satellite), Aqua (satellite), ERS-2, and NOAA-14 with airborne campaigns using aircraft including the NASA ER-2, NASA DC-8, and smaller research aircraft operated by South African Weather Service. Ground observations comprised networks like AERONET, flux tower sites using eddy covariance systems developed at Colorado State University and University of Edinburgh, and chemical sampling at observatories such as Skukuza and Sand River. Instrumentation included aerosol samplers from CIMEL Electronique, trace gas analyzers by Thermo Fisher Scientific, sunphotometers coordinated with NASA Ames Research Center, and lidar systems developed by National Centre for Atmospheric Research and DLR. Modeling used regional chemical transport models like GEOS-Chem, regional climate models including RegCM, and coupled land-atmosphere frameworks developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
SAFARI 2000 produced detailed emission estimates showing that savanna and woodland fires in southern Africa contributed significant amounts of black carbon and organic carbon to the atmosphere, corroborated by measurements from MODIS and chemical signatures detected by FTIR instruments on aircraft. Results demonstrated long-range aerosol transport affecting the South Atlantic Ocean and influencing cloud microphysics observed during coordinated campaigns with R/V Knorr and other research vessels. Studies revealed interactions between fire regimes, seasonal monsoon variability monitored by TRMM and CHIRPS, and regional carbon budgets compared against global datasets such as Global Carbon Project outputs. Data supported improvements in emission inventories used by IPCC modelers and informed assimilation efforts at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office.
The campaign advanced satellite validation efforts for instruments aboard Terra (satellite), Aqua (satellite), and Envisat and strengthened regional research capacity at institutions including University of Pretoria and Stellenbosch University. SAFARI 2000 datasets fed into long-term archives maintained by NASA Earthdata, ESA Earth Online, and the Global Fire Emissions Database, influencing subsequent programs such as AMMA, BoM initiatives, and follow-up regional studies under GEWEX and IGAC. The project fostered collaborations among prominent research centers like Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Wits Rural Facility and informed conservation policy in Kruger National Park and transboundary management across the Zambezi River basin.
Critiques addressed logistical complexity involving coordination among entities such as NASA, ESA, and multiple national agencies, and questioned representativeness raised by stakeholders including local communities and park authorities in the Okavango Delta. Technical challenges included gaps in temporal coverage relative to continuous records from AERONET and biases in satellite retrievals against heterogeneous surfaces like the Kalahari Desert and riverine mosaics. Some analyses highlighted uncertainties in emission factors compared with inventories from IPCC and regional measurements by South African Weather Service, prompting calls for sustained monitoring and integration with socioeconomic datasets managed by organizations such as the World Bank and United Nations Environment Programme.
Category:Earth science field campaigns