Weather Monitoring Protocol for the Long-term Ecological Monitoring Program at Denali National Park and Preserve

The National Park Service initiated research in Denali National Park
and Preserve in 1992 to develop and test protocols for long-term ecological
monitoring. The initial focus of LTEM research in Denali has been at the
watershed level. Thus far the majority of the research has taken place in the
Rock Creek drainage, a headwater stream in northeastern Denali. Monitoring of
ecological parameters in Rock Creek has included the study of air quality,
stream hydrology, soils, aquatic systems, vegetation, and avian and small mammal
communities. Additional efforts to monitor glaciers and weather/climate
variables have taken place elsewhere in Denali.

Geographic Description: The majority of the research has taken place in the Rock
Creek drainage, a headwater stream in northeastern Denali National Park and
Preserve. Denali National Park and Preserve is located in the central Alaska
Range, approximately 210 km southwest of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Methodology: Data are collected and stored electronically at all sites in Rock
Creek except for the NWS Coop site at park headquarters, where they are recorded
manually each morning at 0800 hours. At the Air Quality site, a Belfort
weighing rain gauge records precipitation continuously on a weekly strip chart,
and a Campbell Scientific 21X data logger is used to collect and store snow
water content data from a snow pillow. All other data collected at this site are
stored hourly on a SumX SX445 datalogger which can be polled remotely via
telephone line. Campbell Scientific 21X Microloggers are used for data
collection at each of the six stations established in the Rock Creek drainage in
1993. Measurements are taken at 60 second intervals and are reported hourly
(soil and snow temperatures were sampled every 15 minutes and averaged hourly).
Data are stored on-site in storage modules which are periodically exchanged:
data are then uploaded from the storage modules to a computer at park
headquarters.