In April 2018, the members of the subproject C2 successfully completed the second field trip to the westernmost part of the Atacama Desert. While fieldwork in 2017 dealt with coastal alluvial fans between Iquique and Mejillones, in total 4 alluvial fans distributed between Mejillones and Taltal were studied intensely in 2018.

The primary aim was to get insights into the timing and characteristics of transport and deposition along the western flank of the north-south running Coastal Cordillera. In order to establish a detailed geochronological framework of the alluvial fan systems, sampling was carried out for luminescence, electron spin resonance, cosmogenic nuclide and U/Th dating. In addition, at some alluvial fan surfaces, tephra samples could be collected to provide a potential independent age control. Furthermore, geomorphological mapping, and ground-based as well as aerial surveys were carried to understand the depositional history of the alluvial fans.

General Assembly in Vienna

The EGU General Assembly took place from the 09-13.04.2018 in Vienna with up to 15,075 scientists from 106 countries (EGU, 2018). The CRC 1211 was represented by in total five posters, one PICO talk and one oral presentation. The wide-range of different topics and perspectives of different research questions and projects enabled a productive exchange of knowledge and gave rise to further interdisciplinary cooperations.

Poster

• Irrigation experiments at the Salar Grande (N-Chile) – improving our understanding of hillslope processes in the Atacama Desert
  Lennart Meine (1), Simon Matthias May (1), Dirk Hoffmeister (1), Florian Steininger (1), and Olaf Bubenzer (2) (1) Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, (2) Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
• Cutoff Lows over the Southeast Pacific off the Coast of the Atacama Desert under Present Day Conditions and in the Last Glacial Maximum
  Mark Reyers and Yaping Shao University of Cologne, Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, Cologne, Germany (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• Earth – Evolution at the dry limit
  Tibor J. Dunai and the SFB 1211 project leaders Institute for Geology and Mineralogy, Univ. Cologne, Cologne, Germany (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• Investigating hillslope processes in the hyper-arid zone of the Atacama Desert – different forms, preliminary results, and future perspectives
  Simon Matthias May (1), Dirk Hoffmeister (1), Lennart Meine (1), and Olaf Bubenzer (2) (1) University of Cologne, Institute of Geography, Cologne, Germany (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), (2) Heidelberg University, Institute of Geography, Heidelberg, Germany
• Research data management infrastructure and services for long-term, interdisciplinary collaborative research centers with a focus on environmental sciences
  Dirk Hoffmeister (1) and Constanze Curdt (1,2) (1) Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Germany (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), (2) Regional Computing Centre (RRZK), University of Cologne, Germany

Orals

• Neogene fluvial landscape evolution in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert
  Benedikt Ritter (1), Steven A. Binnie (1), Finlay M. Stuart (2), Axel Gerdes (3), Volker Wennrich (1), and Tibor J. Dunai (1) (1) University of Cologne, Institute of Geology & Mineralogy, Cologne, Germany, (2) Isotope Geosciences Unit, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, UK, (3) Institute of Geosciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

PICO-Session

• Suitability of different digital elevation models for landform classification methods and further geomorphometric analysis in the Atacama Desert
  Dirk Hoffmeister and Tanja Kramm Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Germany (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• Using cosmogenic nuclides to trace a steep climate gradient over a short distance in hyperarid northern Chile
  Joel Mohren, Steven A. Binnie, Damián A. López, Benedikt Ritter, and Tibor J. Dunai University of Cologne, Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Cologne, Germany (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

During the long and intensive joined field campaign of C3, Z2 and Z3 in February and March 2018, further 10 weather stations were established. The southern transect at 25.1°S and the northern transect at 19.7°S with 4 and 5 stations respectively are now complete. Additionally a station was set up at the Alto Patache fog oasis research station (AP, see map) which is maintained by the Centro Desierto de Atacama, of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago (PUC).

We were again accompanied by the PhD student Franko Arenas Díaz from Universidad Catolica del Norte, Antofagasta (UCN). The weather station at the Alto Patache fog oasis research station is connected to a fog collector (see picture) and will be further maintained by Juan Luis García, Pablo Mc Intyre and Constanza Vargas Vásquez of the Geographic Institute, PUC.

The data delivered by the weather stations gives new insights into the transport of moist air from the Pacific into the Atacama and the distribution of precipitation. Especially, the stations of the central transect at 21.4°S installed already in March and September 2017 are under the influence of a very regular and strong sea-land-mountain circulation, which brings moist air and fog far inland. Stations 1.2 and 1.3 observed on June 7, 2017 one rain event, which brought about 1mm of precipitation. Station 1.5 located on the slope of Andes Precordillera experienced on February 3, 2018 rain, which brought in total 3.4mm.

All data, metadata and photos will be shortly available on our repository website: https://www.crc1211db.uni-koeln.de

A daily quicklook is provided here:

http://gop.meteo.uni-koeln.de/~Hatpro/dataBrowser/dataBrowser4.html?site=DryLimit&date=2017-04-03&UpperLeft=stat13_Temperature&UpperRight=stat13_Radiation&LowerRight=stat13_Humidity&LowerLeft=stat13_Wind

We thank all involved people and companies for their support to realize this very important task, in particular: Agencia de Aduanas Juan Gatica Yesurun y Cía. Ltda.; Campbell Scientific Ltd.; CRC 1211 central office; Feingerätebau K.Fischer GmbH; DB Schencker; Dr. Eduardo Campos, UCN, Antofagasta; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce); Patricio Raul Arias Ortiz; Team of Alto Patache; Telekom Mobil; University of Cologne Administration

Distribution of weather stations. Map: Dr. Dirk Hoffmeister

Weather station at Alto Patache fog station (PUC) with additionally connected fog collector. Photo: Constanza Vargas Vásquez (PUC)