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Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Sonoran Desert Network

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Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Sonoran Desert Network National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Program Center Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Sonoran Desert Network Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SODN/NRTR—2007/044 ON THE COVER Weather station at Chiricahua National Monument Photograph copyrighted by Greg McCurdy Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Sonoran Desert Network Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SODN/NRTR—2007/044 WRCC Report 2007-19 Christopher A. Davey, Kelly T. Redmond, and David B. Simeral Western Regional Climate Center Desert Research Institute 2215 Raggio Parkway Reno, Nevada 89512-1095 June 2007 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Program Center Fort Collins, Colorado The Natural Resource Publication series addresses natural resource topics that are of interest and applicability to a broad readership in the National Park Service and to others in the management of natural resources, including the scientific community, the public, and the National Park Service conservation and environmental constituencies. Manuscripts are peer-reviewed to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. The Natural Resources Technical Reports series is used to disseminate the peer-reviewed results of scientific studies in the physical, biological, and social sciences for both the advancement of science and the achievement of the National Park Service mission. The reports provide contributors with a forum for displaying comprehensive data that are often deleted from journals because of page limitations. Current examples of such reports include the results of research that address natural resource management issues; natural resource inventory and monitoring activities; resource assessment reports; scientific literature reviews; and peer-reviewed proceedings of technical workshops, conferences, or symposia. Views and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect policies of the National Park Service. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the National Park Service. Printed copies of reports in these series may be produced in a limited quantity and they are only available as long as the supply lasts. This report is also available from the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/NRPM) on the Internet or by sending a request to the address on the back cover. Please cite this publication as follows: Davey, C. A., K. T. Redmond, and D. B. Simeral. 2007. Weather and Climate Inventory, National Park Service, Sonoran Desert Network. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SODN/NRTR—2007/044. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS/SODN/NRTR—2007/044, June 2007 ii Contents Page Figures ............................................................................................................................................ v Tables ........................................................................................................................................... vi Appendixes ................................................................................................................................. vii Acronyms ................................................................................................................................... viii Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... xii 1.0. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Network Terminology ...................................................................................................... 2 1.2. Weather versus Climate Definitions ................................................................................ 4 1.3. Purpose of Measurements ................................................................................................ 4 1.4. Design of Climate-Monitoring Programs ........................................................................ 5 2.0. Climate Background .............................................................................................................. 10 2.1. Climate and the SODN Environment ............................................................................ 10 2.2. Spatial Variability .......................................................................................................... 12 2.3. Temporal Variability ...................................................................................................... 18 2.4. Parameter Regression on Independent Slopes Model .................................................... 18 3.0. Methods ................................................................................................................................. 22 3.1. Metadata Retrieval ......................................................................................................... 22 3.2. Criteria for Locating Stations ......................................................................................... 24 4.0. Station Inventory ................................................................................................................... 26 4.1. Climate and Weather Networks ..................................................................................... 26 4.2. Station Locations ........................................................................................................... 29 iii Contents (continued) Page 5.0. Conclusions and Recommendations ..................................................................................... 47 5.1. Sonoran Desert Inventory and Monitoring Network ..................................................... 47 5.2. Spatial Variations in Mean Climate ............................................................................... 48 5.3. Climate Change Detection ............................................................................................. 48 5.4. Aesthetics ....................................................................................................................... 48 5.5. Information Access ........................................................................................................ 49 5.6. Summarized Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................... 49 6.0. Literature Cited ..................................................................................................................... 51 iv Figures Page Figure 1.1. Map of the Sonoran Desert Network ......................................................................... 3 Figure 2.1. Mean monthly precipitation at selected locations in the SODN .............................. 11 Figure 2.2. Mean annual precipitation, 1961–1990, for the SODN ........................................... 13 Figure 2.3. Mean July precipitation, 1961–1990, for the SODN ............................................... 14 Figure 2.4. Mean annual temperature, 1961–1990, for the SODN ............................................ 15 Figure 2.5. Mean July maximum temperature, 1961–1990, for the SODN ............................... 16 Figure 2.6. Mean January minimum temperature, 1961–1990, for the SODN .......................... 17 Figure 2.7. Precipitation time series, 1895-2005, for selected regions in the SODN ............................................................................................................. 19 Figure 2.8. Temperature time series, 1895-2005, for selected regions in the SODN ............................................................................................................. 20 Figure 4.1. Station locations for the northern SODN park units ................................................ 33 Figure 4.2. Station locations for the southern SODN park units ................................................ 42 v Tables Page Table 1.1. Park units in the SODN ................................................................................................ 2 Table 3.1. Primary metadata fields for SODN weather and climate stations ............................. 23 Table 4.1. Weather and climate networks represented within the SODN .................................. 26 Table 4.2. Number of stations within or nearby SODN park units ............................................. 30 Table 4.3. Weather and climate stations for the northern SODN park units .............................. 31 Table 4.4. Weather and climate stations for the southern SODN park units .............................. 35 vi Appendixes Page Appendix A. Glossary ............................................................................................................... 56 Appendix B. Climate-monitoring principles ............................................................................. 58 Appendix C. Factors in operating a climate network ................................................................ 61 Appendix D. General design considerations for weather/climate-monitoring programs .......... 64 Appendix E. Master metadata field list ....................................................................................
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