Storm over Chiricahua National Monument. NPS/M. Cahill
Overview
Together, climate and hydrology shape ecosystems and the services they provide, particularly in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Understanding changes in climate, groundwater, and surface water is key to assessing the condition of park natural resources-and often, cultural resources.
At Chiricahua National Monument (NM), Sonoran Desert Network (SODN) scientists study how ecosystems may be changing by taking measurements of key resources, or “vital signs " year after year, much as a doctor keeps track of a patient’s vital signs. This long-term ecological monitoring provides early warning of potential problems, allowing managers to mitigate them before they become worse. At Chiricahua, we monitor climate, weather, groundwater, and springs among other vital signs.
Surface-water and groundwater conditions are closely related to climate conditions. Because they are better understood together, we report on climate in conjunction with water resources. Reporting is by water year (WY), which begins in October of one calendar year and goes through September of the next (e.g., WY2021 runs from October 2020 through September 2021).
This article reports the results of climate and water monitoring done at Chiricahua National Monument (Figure 1) in water year 2021.
Figure 1. Monitored weather station and groundwater wells at Chiricahua National Monument.
Climate | Groundwater | Springs
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
