Water Balance Underlies Natural Resource Conditions at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Rocky Mountain Network. 2020. Water Balance Underlies Natural Resource Conditions at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. National Park Service
As climate change intensifies, land managers need to understand its multifaceted effects on the ground. Yet traditional temperature and precipitation measures alone do not always accurately predict how natural resources respond. They fail to account for water storage as snow or soil moisture, and that some water goes to streams and some back into the atmosphere. The storage and movement of water creates distinctly different environments for plants and animals at different times and places. Thus, temperature and precipitation paint only a partial picture of climate change and how natural resources will respond in the future. We used an old tool—water balance—in new ways to better understand how vegetation, stream flow and wildfire ignitions respond to climate. Water balance is a “checking account” for water. It mathematically accounts for the input of water, where it goes, and how it leaves a place. By relating water balance to the condition of natural resources over time, we identified sensitivity to changes in climate. This is key for planning. It helps to determine which natural resources are vulnerable to climate change, and when, where, and why changes may occur. This brief summarizes newly published water balance case studies at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Water balance helps clarify climate impacts to stream flow, wildfire, and vegetation productivity across the wide range of elevations and vegetation types in the park.
- Type
- Resource Brief
- Authors
- Rocky Mountain Network
- Date of Issue
- 2020-11-16
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRSA , ROMN
- Keywords
- climate, climate change, Climate Change Inventory, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, GRSA, Rocky Mountain Network, ROMN, stream flow, vegetation production, water balance, wildfire ignition