Weather and Climate Inventory, National Park Service, North Coast and Cascades Network
Davey CA, Redmond KT, Simeral DB. 2006. Weather and Climate Inventory, National Park Service, North Coast and Cascades Network. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/NCCN/NRTR—2006/010. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Climate is a dominant factor driving the physical and ecologic processes affecting the North Coast and Cascades Inventory and Monitoring Network (NCCN). 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 NCCN is characterized by large environmental gradients, such as in climate and topography. These gradients result in a large variety of plant and animal communities and ecosystems. The widespread glaciated areas in the NCCN are very sensitive to global-scale climate changes and provide useful locations to monitor such changes. The current and past weather and climate stations in NCCN sample atmospheric conditions over a large portion of the land area and ecosystem zones. However, weather and climate stations are not present in some montane and alpine ecosystems in the NCCN. These include large portions of southeastern OLYM, northern NOCA, and northern MORA. Additional stations in these areas would enhance understanding of climate patterns and variability in the region and better monitor montane and alpine ecosystem responses to climate change, particularly in glaciated areas. Because of its influence on the ecology of NCCN park units and the surrounding areas, climate was identified as a high-priority, vital sign for NCCN, 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.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Davey, C; Redmond, K; Simeral, D
- Date of Issue
- 2006
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- CLI , EBLA , FOVA , LEWI , MORA , NCCN , NOCA , NRSS , OLYM , SAJH
- Keywords
- Aesthetics, Climate, Climate change detection, Climate Inventory, Columbia River, Monitoring, Olympic Peninsula, Parameter regression on independent slopes model (PRISM), Puget Sound, PWR-toolkit, Spatial variability, Temporal variability, Weather, WRCC-Report