Annual climate in Mexican Spotted Owl habitat in the Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico: implications for responding to climate change

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-240
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Ganey ◽  
James P. Ward ◽  
Todd A. Rawlinson ◽  
Sean C. Kyle ◽  
Ryan S. Jonnes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Spotted Owl ◽  
Sacramento Mountains

scholarly journals Numerical simulations of the impact of climate variability and change on semiarid watershed response in central New Mexico

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-371
Author(s):  
E. R. Vivoni ◽  
C. A. Aragón ◽  
L. Malczynski ◽  
V. C. Tidwell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Hydrologic Response ◽  
Watershed Model ◽  
Precipitation Regime ◽  
Hydrologic Processes ◽  
Precipitation Characteristics ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Hydrologic processes in the semiarid regions of the southwest United States are considered to be highly susceptible to variations in temperature and precipitation characteristics due to the effects of climate change. Relatively little is known on the potential impacts of climate change on the basin hydrologic response, namely streamflow, evapotranspiration and recharge, in the region. In this study, we present the development and application of a continuous, semi-distributed watershed model for climate change studies in semiarid basins of the southwest US. Our objective is to capture hydrologic processes in large watersheds, while accounting for the spatial and temporal variations of climate forcing and basin properties in a simple fashion. We apply the model to the Río Salado basin in central New Mexico since it exhibits both a winter and summer precipitation regime and has a historical streamflow record for model testing purposes. Subsequently, we utilize a sequence of climate change scenarios that capture observed trends for winter and summer precipitation, as well as their interaction with higher temperatures, to perform long-term ensemble simulations of the basin hydrologic response. Results of the modeling exercise indicate that precipitation uncertainty is amplified in the hydrologic response, in particular for processes that depend on a soil saturation threshold. We obtained substantially different hydrologic sensitivities for winter and summer precipitation ensembles, indicating a greater sensitivity to more intense summer storms as compared to more frequent winter events. In addition, the impact of changes in precipitation characteristics overwhelmed the effects of increased temperature in the study basin. Nevertheless, combined trends in precipitation and temperature yield a more sensitive hydrologic response throughout the year.

scholarly journals Late Holocene droughts and cave ice harvesting by Ancestral Puebloans

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan P. Onac ◽  
Steven M. Baumann ◽  
Dylan S. Parmenter ◽  
Eric Weaver ◽  
Tiberiu B. Sava
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Ancestral Puebloan ◽  
Ancestral Puebloans ◽  
Marginal Environment

AbstractWater availability for Native Americans in the southwestern United States during periods of prolonged droughts is poorly understood as regional hydroclimate records are scant or contradicting. Here, we show that radiocarbon-dated charcoal recovered from an ice deposit accumulated in Cave 29, western New Mexico, provide unambiguous evidence for five drought events that impacted the Ancestral Puebloan society between ~ AD 150 and 950. The presence of abundant charred material in this cave indicates that they periodically obtained drinking water by using fire to melt cave ice, and sheds light on one of many human–environment interactions in the Southwest in a context when climate change forced growing Ancestral Puebloan populations to exploit water resources in unexpected locations. The melting of cave ice under current climate conditions is both uncovering and threatening a fragile source of paleoenvironmental and archaeological evidence of human adaptations to a seemingly marginal environment.

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