Site overview: La Réunion (REU)
Le Chaudron Station (Meteo-France) & Maïdo observatory
- Affiliation:
- TRP-MAIDO
- Address:
UMR8105 LACy, Université de la Réunion, 15 Avenue René Cassin, CS 92003, 97744 Saint-Denis Cedex 9
- WIGOS Id:
- 61983
- Latitude:
- -21.08 °N
- Longitude:
- 55.38 °E
- Altitude:
- 2160 m
- Location:
- Google Map
- Topography:
- Maïdo Observatory is located on the western part of the island. The observatory sits at the top of the Maïdo Mountain about 2160m above sea level. The Maïdo is located above the city of Saint-Paul and overlooks the “Cirque de Mafate”. The observatory is located in a rocky area with some shrubs and the road climbing from Saint Paul to the Maïdo Mountain goes through a forest of highland tamarin trees. At night and early morning, air masses at the Maïdo mountain are separated from local and regional sources of pollution, due to the strengthening of the large-scale subtropical subsidence at night. In the free troposphere, westerly winds occur quite frequently in austral winter and can advect biomass burning plumes from Africa/Madagascar over the site. During daytime, the Maïdo mountain is directly under the influence of air masses coming from the west-north-west downhill slope, which is a zone partially covered by a dense tropical forest. Main primary sources surrounding the Maïdo mount site are therefore from marine origin via the Indian Ocean and from biogenic origin through this dense forest cover.
- Climate:
- Reunion Island (21°S, 55°E) is a volcanic island located in the southwestern part of the Indian Ocean. Due to its location, the climate in Réunion is tropical to subtropical, but temperature moderates with elevation. The weather is cool and dry from May to November, but hot and rainy from November to April. Precipitation levels vary greatly within the island, with the east being much wetter than the west. In austral winter (May to November), the island is under the influence of the subtropical jet while in austral summer (November to April) the island is exposed to tropical convection such as tropical cyclones.
- Description:
Location: TRP-SaintDenis
Address: 50 bd Chaudron, 97400 SAINT DENIS, France
WIGOS Id: 61980
Location : 20.897°S, 55.495°E, Altitude 49m
The meteorological center is located in Saint-Denis
(Chaudron district), on the north side of the island. It is located
in an urban area of Saint-Denis with mainly block of flats and
some trees. The automated radiosounding system is on the
Meteorological service building roof. The station is located 1.3
km south of the seafront and 1 km east of a river. The climate of
Reunion Island is humid tropical (1659 mm/year in Saint-
Denis). There are two distinct seasons in Reunion Island: the
rainy season, which can be defined between January and March,
and the longer dry season, which begins in May and ends in
November.- Author:
- Stéphanie Evan
