Prof. Nobuhito Ohte of Kyoto University, a member of Output 4 of the SATREPS VaryAla Project, traveled to Madagascar in September to conduct field surveys and meet with collaborating research institutions.

During this trip, field investigations were carried out in and around Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar. The research focused on an interception evaporation monitoring plot established within a forested area of the national park to estimate evapotranspiration. The positions of throughfall and stemflow monitoring instruments, as well as the locations of trees within the plot, were surveyed, and a site map was produced. In addition, a tree inventory survey was conducted to record tree species, diameter at breast height (DBH), and tree height, resulting in the development of a comprehensive tree inventory database.

In addition, follow-up surveys were conducted at two hydrological monitoring sites that had been selected during the preliminary survey conducted last year. The sites are located in Ambodimanga Village and include two contrasting watersheds: one with an upper catchment covered by forest vegetation and another whose upper catchment has been degraded by wildfires and logging activities. At both sites, V-notch weirs were installed at locations where water flows from forested land into lowland rice fields, and monitoring equipment, including water-level gauges, turbidity sensors, and data loggers, was set up.

The field survey was carried out in collaboration with researchers from the Laboratoire des Radio-Isotopes (LRI) at the University of Antananarivo. Discussions were also held on the future implementation of hydrological monitoring and related research activities.