Weather and climate inventory, National Park Service, Northern Great Plains Network
Davey CA, Redmond KT, Simeral DB. 2007. Weather and climate inventory, National Park Service, Northern Great Plains Network. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/NGPN/NRTR—2007/039. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Climate is a dominant factor driving the physical and ecologic processes affecting the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN). The Northern Great Plains is characterized by extremes in weather ranging from hot dry summers to cold winters with prolonged snow cover. Droughts within the NGPN are important in maintaining grassland communities. High winds often compound the effects of temperature and precipitation on NGPN ecosystems. These large climate variations influence heavily on the composition, structure, and processes of prairie ecosystems. The impact of global climate change may be exacerbated in the Northern Great Plains due to the region’s periodic droughts and the large number of habitat specialists. Climate variations do have significant impact on grassland ecosystems. For instance, global warming could increase grassland vegetation and decrease forested and shrubby vegetation. The NGPN network has stressed the importance of site-specific weather and climate monitoring. 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
- 2007
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- CLI , NGPN , NRSS
- Keywords
- Weather, Weather and Climate Inventory, weather climate inventory, WRCC-Report