Gobabeb
Coordinates: 23°33′S 15°02′E / 23.550°S 15.033°E
The Gobabeb Training and Research Center is an internationally recognised centre for dry land training and research in Namibia. It is located in the Namib Desert, 120 km south-east of Walvis Bay.
Gobabeb was founded by the Austrian entomologist Dr. Charles Koch in 1962. Since 1998 Gobabeb has been a joint Venture between the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and the Desert Research Foundation Namibia (DRFN). Gobabeb conducts research in the fields of climate, ecology and geomorphology. Further it tests, demonstrates and promotes Appropriate Technologies. By conducting training courses Gobabeb aims to improve the public awareness and knowledge of dry land ecology and environmental issues. The station consists of permanent researchers, students, and interns, as well as short time visitors such as school and university groups, and tourists. Gobabeb also hosts film crews, journalists and artists.
The Station is located 120 km south-east of Walvis Bay in Namibia's largest nature reserve Namib Naukluft Park. Gobabeb lies at the meeting point of three different ecosystems: the ephemeral Kuiseb River, the Sand Dunes Sea to the south and the gravel plains to the north. This offers an excellent diversity of environments in which to conduct research.
As the station is located in the Namib desert, the climate is hyperarid with an average annual precipitation of 23.8 mm, about 65% during the summer months (December to May). In 2010/2011 an extreme rainfall of about 165 millimetres was measured during rainy season. With an average annual temperature of 21.1 °C the climate is subtropical and about 5–6 °C warmer than the temperate coast though at about 400 m above sea level : given that Gobabeb is at more than about 70 km from the coast it is much less under the influence of the cold coastal ocean Benguela current than coastal areas such as Walvis Bay. A cold coastal ocean current cools the above oceanic air. The latter being cooled, water vapour in that air may become liquid water. Therefore, clouds and particularly fogs may appear, hugely diminishing insolation and thus temperature. Thus cold ocean currents along western coast of continents doubly cool these coasts : by their own cold and by the nebulosity (due to clouds including fogs and mists) they bring. For instance Walvis Bay has 140 days of fog per year while Gobabeb has "only" 94 days. Gobabeb's remoteness from the Atlantic explains why it is significantly warmer than the Namibian coast (Walvis Bay average temperature is only 15.4 °C) despite being at a greater altitude.
...
Wikipedia