# Presentation: 514642

## Climate in Three Dimensions:  

**Integrated Mountain Climate Observations**** **
**Kelly  T.  Redmond**
**Western Regional Climate Center**
**Desert Research Institute**
**CCSP Workshop**
**Climate Science in Support of Decision Making**
**14-16 November 2005  Arlington VA**

## Slide 2

## March 10, 2004

**March 10, 2004**

- 7.5” / 170 mm

- 12” / 300 mm

- 55” / 1400 mm

- 70” / 1800 mm

## Slide 4

## Western Hydrology 101

**High**** elevations:  ****supply**** region.**
**Low**** elevations:   ****demand**** region.**
**Supply**** largely falls in ****winter****.**
**Demand**** largely occurs in ****summer****.**
**Usage is often ****separated**** from supply, in ****space**** and in ****time****.**
**   ****(Can become out of sight, out of mind.)**
**Climates ****elsewhere**** matter for ****local**** purposes.**
**Water flows toward **
**	****a) the gravitational center of the earth, **
**	****b) money.**
**Snow is extremely important (approx  2/3 – 3/4  of water supply).**
**Snow is the cheapest reservoir there is.**

## Western populations depend on a mountain resource base

**Water**
**   ****The most necessary and most prominent resource.**
**Other major mountain resources are affected by water**
**Timber production and harvest**
**Grazing lands**
**Minerals extraction**
**Recreation**

## Change is under way in all mountain systems:

**Demographic**
**	****Large increases in population**
**	****Wildland – urban interface encroachment **
**Technological**
**	****Internet, wireless, cable, phone connectivity**
**	****Physical presence not needed for some occupations**
**Attitudinal**
**	****Getting away from it all (with everybody else !)**
**	****Population less tied to urban centers**
**	****No longer remote and forbidding**
**Physical**
**	****Habitat fragmentation**
**	****Atmospheric contaminants**
**	****Climate **

## www.censusscope.org

**www.censusscope.org**

**Population Growth  1990-2000**
**	****1****	****Nevada****	****66 %**
**	****2****	****Arizona****	****40**
**	****3****	****Colorado****	****31**
**	****4****	****Utah****	****30**
**	****5****	****Idaho****	****29**
**	****10****	****Washington****	****21**
**	****11****	****Oregon****	****20**
**	****12****	****New Mexico****	****20**
**	****16****	****Alaska****	****15**
**	****18****	****California****	****14**
**	****20****	****Montana****	****13**
**	****31****	****Hawaii****	****  9**
**	****32****	****Wyoming****	****  9**
**11 contiguous states**
**	****11****	****West****	****28**

## www.fs.fed.us/psw/mtnclim

**www.fs.fed.us/psw/mtnclim**

## CIRMOUNT COORDINATING GROUP

_**Constance I. Millar, **__***Co-Chair***_***	******	*****USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany CA**
_**Henry F. Diaz, **__***Co-Chair***_***	******	*****NOAA Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder CO**
**Daniel R. Cayan****	****	****University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla CA**
**Michael D. Dettinger****	****	****USGS Water Resources Division, La Jolla CA**
**Daniel B. Fagre****	****	****USGS Biological Resources Division, West Glacier MT**
**Lisa Graumlich****	****	****Big Sky Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman MT**
**Greg Greenwood****	****	****Mountain Research Initiative, Berne, Switzerland**
**Malcolm K. Hughes****	****	****University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Tucson AZ**
**David L. Peterson****	****	****USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Seattle WA**** **
**Frank L. Powell****	****	****University of California, White Mountain Research Station, San Diego CA**** **
**Kelly T. Redmond****	****	****Desert Research Institute, Western Regional Climate Center, Reno NV**
**John Smiley****	****	****University of California, White Mountain Research Station, San Diego CA**
**Nathan L. Stephenson****	****	****USGS Biological Resources Division, Three Rivers CA**
**Thomas W. Swetnam****	****	****University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Tucson AZ**** **
**Connie Woodhouse****	****	****NOAA Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO**

## 2006

**Timberline Lodge, Mt Hood, Sept 19-22**

**AGU Fall **
**2004 **
**2005**

## Mapping New Terrain    (anticipated date January 2006)

**Four urgent challenges facing western North America **
**climate science and policy communities****:**
**Mountain regions are vastly under-instrumented to measure climate and long-term changes.  **
**Research on western mountain climates and ecosystems is intensive, but scattered and poorly integrated.  **
**Societal demands on western mountain ecosystems are exponentially escalating, imposing new stresses on natural resources and rural community capacities.**
**Although mountains are particularly vulnerable to climate-change impacts, projected climate changes have generally been ignored in mountain land-use planning and natural-resource policies to the detriment of their ecosystems and natural resources.  **

## CIRMOUNT Work Groups

**Mountain Climate Network (MONET)**
**	****	****Kelly Redmond, Mark Losleben**
**2.****	****Mountain-Based Hydrologic Observatories**
**	****	****Roger Bales, Mike Dettinger**
**North American GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments), alpine plants and climate**
**	****	****Connie Millar, Dan Fagre**
**Mountain Ecosystem Responses to Climate**
**	****	****Jeremy Littell, Jeff Hicke**
**CIRMOUNT and International Relations, such as Mountain Research Initiative**
**	****	****Greg Greenwood, Craig Allen**
**Paleoclimatic Archives for Resource Management**
**	****	****Connie Woodhouse, Franco Biondi**

## Slide 14

## Slide 15

## Courtesy of Mike Dettinger, USGS / Scripps.

**Courtesy of Mike Dettinger, USGS / Scripps.**

**Dettinger MD. 2005. From climate change spaghetti to climate-change distributions for 21st Century California. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science. Vol. 3, Issue 1, (March 2005), Article 4.                       http://repositories.cdlib.org/jmie/sfews/vol3/iss1/art4**

## Slide 17

## Slide 18

## Courtesy of Mike Dettinger, USGS / Scripps.

**Courtesy of Mike Dettinger, USGS / Scripps.**

**Dettinger MD. 2005. From climate change spaghetti to climate-change distributions for 21st Century California. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science. Vol. 3, Issue 1, (March 2005), Article 4.                       http://repositories.cdlib.org/jmie/sfews/vol3/iss1/art4**

## What fraction of each year’s precipitation historically fell on days with average temperatures just below freezing?

** ****+3oC WARMING ... Rain?  or  Snow?**

**What fraction of each year’s precipitation historically fell on days with average temperatures just below freezing?**

**Less vulnerable**

**More vulnerable**

**Computed from UW’s VIC model daily INPUTS (Bates et al, in rev).    Courtesy Mike Dettinger.**

**+3**

## P

**Potential effects of warming temperatures on the Sacramento / San Joaquin watershed and the San Francisco estuary**
**Noah Knowles and Dan Cayan**, **Climate Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography**

**P**

**T**

**6 C**

## 1910

**1910**
**Elrod**
**Glacier National Park Archives**
**1931 **
**Hileman**
**Glacier National Park Archives**
**1997**
**Fagre**
**USGS / Glacier National Park**

**Boulder Glacier, 1985-2003.**
**North Cascades **
**Glacier Climate Project**
**Easton Glacier, 1985-2003.**

## Grids.

**Grids.**
**Reanalysis Resolution:**

**Global**

**Regional**
- (slightly smaller; pixel resolution)

**Desired Resolution**
**About 1 km**

## Sierra Annual Jan-Dec 700 mb Temp  (10,000 ft)

**Sierra Annual Jan-Dec 700 mb Temp  (10,000 ft)**

**1 C**

## Sierra Mar-May 700 mb Temp  (10,000 ft)

**Sierra Mar-May 700 mb Temp  (10,000 ft)**

**Freezing**

**1 C**

## Sierra  Summer Jun-Aug  700 mb Temp  (10,000 ft)

**Sierra  Summer Jun-Aug  700 mb Temp  (10,000 ft)**

**1 C**

## Last six years

**Last six years**
**Sep-Aug Temperature **
**As departure (F) from **
**1961-1990**
**1971-2000**
**1950-1995**
**1895-2000**

## August 30, 1997

**August 30, 1997**

**Agriculture**

**Cities**

## Workshop:	Urban Water Supplies and Climate Change in the West

**2005 September 22-23  Las Vegas.**
**Sponsors**
**	****Southern Nevada Water Authority**
**	****Natural Resources Defense Council**
**	****Desert Research Institute**
_**Purpose**_
**Initiation of a dialog:   urban water managers and climate scientists**
**Approximately 15 urban water districts, 8 climate specialists.**
**Follow-on:  Urban Water Coalition meeting, 2005 October 21, Reno.**
**	****Represents the major western cities**
_**Outcome**_**:  **
**1.****	****Vulnerability to water supply disruption from temperature effects is of significant concern to cities and water suppliers.**
**Climate issues are intersecting with many other stressors.**
**Need to understand entire water budget:  atmosphere, surface, groundwater as an integrated system.**
**Keep the dialogue going.**

## CalClim:  Integration of networks.

**CalClim:  Integration of networks.**

**Coop**

**RAWS**

**Snotel**

**ASOS**

**Buoy**

**CIMIS**

**CDWR**

**Research**

**But still not enough at higher elevations !**

**<1640’**

**<3280’**

**<4920’**

**<6560’**

**<8200’**

**>8200’**

**www.calclim.dri.edu**
** ****Cal Energy Commission**

##            South      Central Sierra Snow Lab       East

-            **South      **_**Central Sierra Snow Lab**_**       East**

**Photo:  Dave Simeral**

## Slide Mountain Toward SSW

**Slide Mountain Toward SSW**

## 2003 March 10

**2003 March 10**

## White Mountain Summit.  

**White Mountain Summit.  **
**Highest active live transmission station in North America.**
**14246 ft. / 4342 m.**
**Summer 2003**

**www.wrcc.dri.edu/weather/wmtn.html**

## White Mtn Summit Looking North

**White Mtn Summit Looking North**

## White Mtn Summit Looking South

**White Mtn Summit Looking South**

## Mt Warren (12327 ft) Toward South.  July 2000.

**Mt Warren**

**View looking south up Deer Cr (NB: beautiful Pleistocene Rock Glacial cyn), a tributary of Lundy Cyn (note also limber pines at left foreslope (one of our sites).  7/00**

**Warren Bench Rd ends here**

**Our highest pine sites here**

**Deer Creek Canyon**

**Lundy Canyon**

**To Mono Lake**

**Mt Warren (12327 ft) Toward South.  July 2000.**

**Photo:  Connie Millar**

## Slide 38

## Slide 39

## “You can observe a lot, just by watching.”

**	****	****	****	****	****-Yogi Berra**

## Thank You

**Thank You**