Methods for monitoring climate in Southwest Alaska Network parks: Version 1.0

Lindsay, Chuck; Giffen, Bruce; Wilson, Nat

The Southwest Alaska Network Inventory and Monitoring Program is an office of the National Park Service dedicated to providing the scientific foundation for effective, long-term protection and management of natural resources in five units of the national park system. Collectively these units comprise approximately 9.4 million acres, 11.6 percent of the land managed by the National Park Service, or two percent of the Alaska landmass, and include a diversity of geologic features, ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and climatic conditions that are equaled few places in North America. The Southwest Alaska Network Inventory and Monitoring Program collects, manages, analyzes and reports long-term data on a modest set of vital signs – selected physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems that represent the overall health or condition of a park. Climate is one of the primary drivers of physical and ecological processes. For these reasons, the Southwest Alaska Network Inventory and Monitoring program identified climate as a vital sign. This document presents methods for monitoring climate in five national park units in Southwest Alaska: the Alagnak Wild River, Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The goal is to acquire a comprehensive and high-quality climate dataset for use in understanding how climate is affecting other vital signs. Specifically, the monitoring objectives are to: 1. Record and archive hourly weather observations, including temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, and snow depth at weather stations located in representative areas within Southwest Alaska Network parks. 2. Produce monthly and annual summaries of weather observations and identify extremes of climatic conditions for common parameters (precipitation and air temperature), and other parameters for which sufficient data are available (e.g. wind speed and direction, solar radiation, soil temperature). By design, these methods benefit from - and build upon - existing climate monitoring programs. Ten new climate monitoring stations have been established by the Southwest Alaska Network Inventory and Monitoring program in three network parks. This document outlines procedures for the long-term operation and maintenance of these new stations. Methods are also included to acquire, quality control, archive, and process climate data from existing stations in or near network parks that provide consistent, long-term, and high-quality records. These climate data will be made available for use in a standardized format. Procedures are also outlined for annual reporting, which will provide summaries of the recent climate to support park management and planning decisions and for correlation with other monitoring and park science efforts.

Methods for monitoring climate in Southwest Alaska Network parks: Version 1.0

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