Researchers have their eyes on New Hampshire’s Presidential Range—and not because of its breathtaking views.
The area has the most extensive climate record of any mountain range in the Northeast. Using data that’s been recorded since the 1930s, AMC’s research team has unveiled some unexpected results.
In late 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded AMC and its collaborators—the Mount Washington Observatory and the University of New Hampshire—$321,000 to study the range’s climate and air pollution.
Researchers initially hypothesized that the range’s sub-alpine and alpine ecosystems would exhibit warming trends, comparable to results measured at lower elevations where most other weather stations in the region are located. However, analyses show that climate warming diminishes at mid-elevation on the mountain and there are no statistically significant climate trends at higher altitudes.
“We didn’t expect greater resistance to warming trends at higher elevations,” says Ken Kimball, AMC’s research director and principal investigator for the project. “But the likely mechanisms involved do provide insight on why the Northeast has some of the lowest alpine areas at these latitudes and were able to survive previous warming periods.”
AMC researchers attribute the occurrence of chemical and climatic differences to variations in the atmosphere’s layers. “This stratification helps explain why air pollutant concentrations are higher at the summit of the mountain…when compared to the base,” says AMC Air Quality Scientist Georgia Murray. “Our results don’t take away the need for action on climate change, actions that would reduce the summit’s air pollution. The regional data is clear about warming trends. We just discovered that our mountains are not warming at the same rate.”
The project’s published scientific papers show temperatures recorded at AMC’s Pinkham Notch Visitor Center (2,000 feet in elevation) have risen slightly over the past seven decades and the end of continuous snow cover has occurred earlier and earlier during this timeframe. But there were no significant climate trends at the Mount Washington summit’s 6,247-feet elevation.
AMC, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Plymouth State University’s Meteorological Department will receive a second year of NOAA funding to investigate why climate warming declines with elevation. The partners will also monitor how variations in temperature and snow patterns affect the blooming of mountain flowers. AMC’s Mountain Watch Program will complement this study, Murray says.
“It’s very important that we study how our mountain ecosystems will respond to climate change,” she says. “Our mountains are important both ecologically and economically.”
Cloud cover atop Mount Washington. Photo by Jerry Monkman.
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