Climate Monitoring Protocol for the North Coast and Cascades Network

A network of remote climate stations is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS) to supplement existing climate sites operated by NPS cooperators. These sites are installed within each park to fill gaps in existing climate data and provide a comprehensive understanding of park-wide climate patterns. The majority of NPS climate stations occur at Olympic National Park. In contrast to other parks within the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN), few stations were operated by NPS cooperators at Olympic. In 1998, a joint U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)/NPS global climate change project initiated the installation of remote climate stations along a precipitation gradient within the park. Upon completion of the study, these sites were turned over to the NCCN network to form the core of Olympic National Park's NPS operated climate station network. Additional sites are being added throughout the network as time and funding allows. This protocol narrative outlines the rationale, sampling design and methods proposed for monitoring climate in the North Coast and Cascades Monitoring Network (NCCN). The NCCN, one of 32 networks of parks in the National Park System, comprises seven national park units in the Pacific Northwest, including three large, mountainous, natural area parks (Mount Rainier [MORA] and Olympic [OLYM] National Parks, North Cascades National Park Service Complex [NOCA]) and four small historic-cultural parks (Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve [EBLA], Lewis and Clark National Historical Park [LEWI], Fort Vancouver National Historical Park [FOVA], San Juan Island National Historical Park [SAJH]). This narrative reflects decisions made by the NCCN climate monitoring group, which includes National Park Service (NPS) representatives from each of the large parks in the Network and with the assistance of several agencies including National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).