3. CURRENT RESEARCH PLAN, MONITORING AND DATA
Water is considered one of South Africa’s potentially key limiting
factors for economic development. Falling within a strategic water
source, the Cathedral Peak Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) platform
is unique in that it is the only high-altitude hydroclimatic monitoring
site in the southern African region. Thus, addressing the need for
quality, long-term datasets and process level understanding in sensitive
high-altitude areas, which are needed to improve the understanding of
global change impacts on the ecosystem to ensure water security and
provision to lower lying areas.
The hydro-climatological monitoring network was designed to be
comparable with the historical network to benefit from the historic data
for environmental change research as well as being relevant for
monitoring changes and thresholds or tipping points in system behaviour
into the future. Comparison studies between historical and current
monitoring equipment have been undertaken (Gray and Toucher, 2019). More
intensive monitoring is undertaken in Catchment VI, a near ‘pristine’
grassland catchment which is considered as the core, benchmark catchment
as well as in Catchment III which is degraded and fire-protected
Catchment IX which has become encroached with woody species.