Rainfall

In addition to the rain gauges at the meteorological stations, there were 54 gauges located throughout the research catchments at the hub of research activities in the 20th century. In the last two years a number of gauges have been redeployed at historical sites to ensure that historic data is comparable to recently collected data. The original gauges are also being calibrated with newer automatic gauges so that newer technology can be incorporated into the research platform (this work is being done by a joint effort from SAEON GFW & Fynbos Nodes & the UKZN hydrology department). Given the importance of Cathedral Peak for freshwater supply, Feroza Morris (UKZN) is working with SAEON on “Improving the understanding of the spatial rainfall” in the catchments.” This project requires an altitudinal array of gauges linked to historic gauge sites, that range from 1837m to 2280m a.s.l.. Feroza, with funding from ACCESS via UKZN CWRR, has added to the SAEON rainfall array by extended rain gauge array to additional historic sites and adding some additional rain gauges required to help understanding of the spatial distribution of rainfall with respect to slope and aspect (see map below). Once her project is completed, SAEON will continue with the maintenance and data management from these additional rain stations to build on historic data record.