Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Northeast Temperate Network

Davey, Christopher; Redmond, Kelly; Simeral, David

Climate is a dominant factor driving the physical and ecologic processes affecting the Northeast Temperate Inventory and Monitoring Network (NETN). Climate variations are responsible for short- and long-term changes in ecosystem fluxes of energy and matter and have profound effects on underlying geomorphic and biogeochemical processes. The temperate deciduous forest biome, common to the NETN, is one of the biomes most impacted worldwide by human stresses. These stresses influence directly the local and regional climate characteristics in the NETN and contribute significantly to climate changes in the area. Extreme storm events such as ice storms, nor’easters, and tropical systems are known to impact NETN ecosystems. The ice storm of January 1998 was one of the most damaging ice storms on record, significantly disturbing the temperate forests of the NETN. Because of its influence on the ecology of NETN park units and the surrounding areas, climate was identified as a high-priority, vital sign for NETN, and climate is one of the 12 basic inventories to be completed for all National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M) networks. This project was initiated to inventory past and present climate monitoring efforts in the NETN. In this report, we provide the following information: • Overview of broad-scale climatic factors and zones important to NETN park units. • Inventory of weather and climate station locations in and near NETN park units relevant to the NPS I&M Program. • Results of an inventory of metadata on each weather station, including affiliations for weather-monitoring networks, types of measurements recorded at these stations, and information about the actual measurements (length of record, etc.). • Initial evaluation of the adequacy of coverage for existing weather stations and recommendations for improvements in monitoring weather and climate. In addition, we also provide an overview of weather and climate monitoring efforts for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (APPA). Numerous stations, both manual and automated, are available for weather- and climate-monitoring efforts along APPA. Several key stations are located along or very near the trail, including Clingmans Dome in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in North Carolina, Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park (SHEN) in Virginia, and the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.

Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Northeast Temperate Network

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