Weather and Climate Monitoring Protocol
Vital Signs: Weather and Climate
Protocol will be implemented: all ERMN parks
Justification/Issue being addressed:
Weather and climate are key drivers in ecosystem structure and function. Climate is a dominant factor driving the physical and ecologic processes affecting the ERMN. 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. These global- and regional-scale climate variations will have a tremendous impact on the fundamental properties of ecologic systems, such as soil–water relationships, plant–soil processes, and nutrient cycling, as well as disturbance rates and intensity. These properties, in turn, influence the life-history strategies supported by a climatic regime.
It is essential that park units within the ERMN have an effective climate-monitoring system in place to track climate changes and to aid in management decisions relating to these changes. The primary objective for climate and weather monitoring in the ERMN is to monitor key measurable climate parameters to determine rate and extent of climate trends.
Monitoring objectives: The primary objectives of the weather and climate monitoring program are to:
- Document long-term trends in weather and climate through seasonal and annual summaries of selected parameters (e.g., multiple forms of precipitation; temperature).
- Identify and document extremes and averages of climatic conditions for common parameters (e.g., precipitation and air temperature), and other parameters where sufficient data are available (e.g., wind speed and direction, solar radiation).
- To provide information on near real-time weather parameters, historical climate patterns, and climate station metadata from a single, easy to use, internet portal.
Principal investigators and NPS lead: Paul Knight, Pennsylvania State University and Pennsylvania State Climatologist, will be the lead PI for this project. Matt Marshall, ERMN Coordinator, will be the lead NPS contact.