National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Program Center Fort Collins, Colorado Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Greater Yellowstone Network Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/GRYN/NRTR—2006/001 ON THE COVER Mt. Moran—Grand Teton National Park Photograph copyrighted by David Simeral Weather and Climate Inventory National Park Service Greater Yellowstone Network Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/GRYN/NRTR—2006/001 WRCC Report 06-02 Christopher A. Davey, Kelly T. Redmond, and David B. Simeral Western Regional Climate Center Desert Research Institute 2215 Raggio Parkway Reno, Nevada 89512-1095 July 2006 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 Resource 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’s 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 addresses 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. 2006. Weather and Climate Inventory, National Park Service, Greater Yellowstone Network. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/GRYN/NRTR—2006/001. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS/GRYN/NRTR—2006/001, July 2006 ii Table of Contents Page Figures ................................................................................................................................ v Tables .............................................................................................................................. vii Appendixes ...................................................................................................................... ix Acronyms ......................................................................................................................... xi Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... xv 1.0. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Network Terminology .......................................................................................... 3 1.2. Weather versus Climate Definitions .................................................................... 3 1.3. Purpose of Measurements .................................................................................... 4 1.4. Design of Climate-Monitoring Programs ............................................................ 4 2.0. Climate Background .................................................................................................. 11 2.1. Spatial Variability .............................................................................................. 11 2.2. Temporal Variability .......................................................................................... 15 2.3. Parameter Regression on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) ........................ 17 3.0. Methods ..................................................................................................................... 19 3.1. Metadata Retrieval ............................................................................................. 19 3.2. Criteria for Locating Stations ............................................................................. 22 4.0. Station Inventory ....................................................................................................... 23 4.1. Climate and Weather Networks ......................................................................... 23 4.2. Station Locations ............................................................................................... 25 iii Table of Contents (continued) Page 5.0. Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................................... 35 5.1. Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network ................................. 35 5.2. Spatial Variations in Mean Climate ................................................................... 37 5.3. Climate Change Detection ................................................................................. 37 5.4. Aesthetics ........................................................................................................... 37 5.5. Information Access ............................................................................................ 38 5.6. Summarized Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................. 39 6.0. Literature Cited ......................................................................................................... 41 iv Figures Page Figure 1.1. Map of the Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network (GRYN) ........................................................................................... 2 Figure 2.1. Mean annual precipitation, 1961–1990, within the GRYN region .............. 12 Figure 2.2. Mean annual snowfall, 1961–1990, within the GRYN region .................... 13 Figure 2.3. Spatial variation in annual precipitation cycles in the GRYN region .......... 14 Figure 2.4. Mean annual temperature, 1961–1990, within the GRYN region ............... 16 Figure 2.5. Upper Yellowstone River Basin 12-month average precipitation ending in December (red), 10-year running mean (blue), mean (green) and plus/minus one standard deviation (green dotted), 1895–2005 ................... 17 Figure 2.6. Upper Yellowstone River Basin 12-month average temperature ending in December (red), 10-year running mean (blue), mean (green), and plus/minus one standard deviation (green dotted), 1895–2005 ................... 18 Figure 4.1. Station locations for the YELL, GRTE, and JODR units ............................ 30 Figure 4.2. Station locations for BICA ........................................................................... 33 v vi Tables Page Table 3.1. Primary metadata fields with explanations, as appropriate, for the inventory of weather and climate stations within GRYN .................. 19 Table 4.1. Weather/climate networks represented within GRYN .................................. 23 Table 4.2. Number of stations in or near GRYN (listed by park unit and/or weather/climate network) ............................................................................... 25 Table 4.3. Weather/climate stations for YELL ............................................................... 26 Table 4.4. Weather/climate stations for GRTE and JODR ............................................. 31 Table 4.5. Weather/climate stations for BICA ................................................................ 34 vii viii Appendixes Page Appendix A. Climate-monitoring principles ................................................................. 45 Appendix B. Glossary ................................................................................................... 48 Appendix C. Factors in operating a weather/climate network ...................................... 50 Appendix D. Master metadata field list ......................................................................... 52 Appendix E. General design considerations for weather/climate-monitoring programs .................................................................................................. 54 Appendix F. Descriptions of weather/climate-monitoring networks ............................ 75 Appendix G. Electronic supplements ............................................................................ 82 ix x Acronyms AASC American Association of State Climatologists ACIS Applied Climate Information System AgriMet Pacific Northwest Cooperative Agricultural Network ASOS Automated Surface Observing