The Consortium for Integrated Climate-Related Research in
Western North American Mountains (CIRMOUNT)
INTRODUCING CIRMOUNT
The idea to sponsor the Mountain Climate Sciences Symposium (MCSS) has grown from a group of scientists in
western North America united by a vision for CIRMOUNT – the Consortium for Integrated Climate-Related
Research in Western North American Mountains. In the last two years, this group has come together at the
grass-roots level to launch an initiative whose goal is to improve integration among climate- and climate-related
disciplines and across mountain regions of western North America, and to improve application of this knowledge
in natural-resource management and policy. While without a specific institutional home or dedicated funding,
CIRMOUNT has conceptual and fiscal support for certain activities from individual universities and agencies,
and the idea has been endorsed by the international Mountain Research Initiative. The Mountain Climate
Sciences Symposium is a pivotal opportunity for engaging a broader group of scientists, for testing and
developing ideas for integration, and for galvanizing action.
WHY ARE WE COMING TOGETHER?
Mountain regions are uniquely sensitive to changes in climate, and especially vulnerable to climate effects on
many biotic and physical conditions of social concern. Because mountain regions serve as sources of desired
human resources, changes in mountain systems cascade to issues of national concern. In effect, mountain
systems act as “canaries in the coal mine” to provide early signals of significant climate-driven changes in
valued resources.
CIRMOUNT responds to four situations in western North American mountain regions:
(1) A significant amount of research information on climate- and climate-related sciences has
accumulated, but it is poorly integrated;
(2) Although lowland sites are well represented by weather monitoring stations, mountain areas are
vastly under-instrumented;
(3) Escalating demands on western North American mountain ecosystems increasingly stress both
natural resources and rural community capacities;
(4) Scientific knowledge about climate change as well as the need to monitor changes in climate have
been virtually ignored in mountain land-use planning and natural-resource policy.
We are proposing a consortium that focuses on a scale that is greater than individual sites or single mountain
ranges, such as has been the focus of recent ecosystem assessments, but less than global or continental
networks. Rather, we aim at an intermediate scale for integration, that is, a regional network of mountain ranges
that has geographic, ecologic, climatic and political coherence, such as is the case in western North America.
READINESS
So far we have taken steps to rally ourselves among a set of colleagues, to better understand the
interdisciplinary state-of-research at present, and to begin preparing an agenda for the future. The group of
colleagues who have lent their effort to this enterprise represents a broad cross-section of scientific disciplines
and institutional backgrounds. They are committed to promoting a nationally-supported mountain climate
sciences program that will observe, understand, model, and predict climate-driven changes in the unique
landscape that defines western North America, and that is responsive to the needs and challenges of western
society. Activities we have achieved or have in-progress include:
(1) “Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Mountain Regions”. A draft “White Paper”. Feb. 2003. This
unpublished document is a preliminary effort to outline the scope and rationale for CIRMOUNT, and has been
used as an internal organizing framework. In the weeks ahead, we will complete the synthesis report and will
make it available for distribution, both in print form and on the web.
(2) “Sierra Nevada Climate Change & Implications for Resource Management”. Special session of the Sierra
Nevada Science Symposium, Oct. 2002, Lk Tahoe, CA. This session communicated current climate-related
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research information to an interdisciplinary science and resource-management audience at the scale of a single
mountain range. Proceedings in press: http://danr.ucop.edu/wrc/snssweb/snss.html
(3) “Integrated Climate Research in Western North American Mountains”. Two-day special session at the 20th
Annual PACLIM (Pacific Climate) Workshop, April, 2003, Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA. Topical presentations on
current research, multi-mountain-range scale. Proceedings in press:
http://meteora.ucsd.edu/paclim/agenda03.pdf
(PACLIM homepage: http://meteora.ucsd.edu/paclim/)
(4) Installation of a new remote-accessed High-Elevation Meteorological Station. White Mountain/Barcroft
Summit, CA. October, 2003. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/weather/wmtn.html
(5) “Mountain Climate Science Symposium” (MCSS). 25-27 May 2004. Lake Tahoe, CA.
http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/mcss/ CIRMOUNT’s “Coming Out” event, this 3-day symposium is devoted to
developing a framework and agenda that will guide the CIRMOUNT initiative in coming years – or redirect
efforts in other directions. Not a traditional conference with research presentations, MCSS will include a small
number of plenary talks on state-of-science in priority topics, but will primarily be a working meeting. The
symposium is limited to 100 invited participants, who were selected for their key roles in the climate sciences
research and policy communities, and who will help develop the future for an initiative in western North America.
Goals of the MCSS are:
-- Summarize states-of-knowledge in four priority topics of climate and climate-response research
for mountain regions of western North America;
-- Develop support for long-term, interdisciplinary, and integrated climate and climate-related
research and monitoring in western mountains;
-- Facilitate communication and understanding of climate sciences and their implications to local
and regional resource managers and decision-makers;
-- Promote data integration, quality assurance, management, and archival capacities for climaterelated databases;
--Establish a roadmap for long-term regional integration of climate sciences, assessment, natural
resource policy, and management.
Plenary speakers, discussion leaders, and other participants from MCSS will assist the coordinating group in
producing a keystone framework publication from the meeting. This will describes priority topics, questions, and
problems, and outline opportunities for improving coordination, collaboration, and communication among
western North American climate- and climate-related scientists, resource managers, and policy specialists. With
this framework, we will seek funding and endorsements within appropriate institutional contexts. We hope the
framework will encourage voluntary buy-in from individual researchers who would see benefit both to their own
work and to the regional science community by aligning their research with the CIRMOUNT program.
WHAT ACTIONS DO WE FORESEE FOR THE NEAR FUTURE?
Specific target activities that could develop from the MCSS include:
(1) Institute “MACLIM (Mountain Climate) Biennial Workshops”. Research meetings based on the PACLIM
(Pacific Climate) Workshop model would either be add-on to annual PACLIM meetings or alternate every other
year with PACLIM. MACLIM would focus specifically on current research findings relevant to CIRMOUNT topics
and goals.
(2) Add GLORIA Monitoring Sites. GLORIA (The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine
Environments) is an international program for detecting effects of climate change on mountain biota. The
initiative coordinates standardized monitoring in a network of high-elevation sites around the world. Only one
site exists in western North America -- at Glacier National Park, MT.
(3) Add High-Elevation Meteorological Stations. Support efforts to administer an extended GCOS (Global
Climate Observation System) network of weather monitoring stations at high elevations in western mountains.
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The recently installed station on White Mtn/Barcroft Summit, CA (Dan Cayan, SCRIPPS, WMRS) is a defining
model.
(4) Initiate and extend collaboration to other climate-change projects, especially regarding communication of
science into conservation and resource management contexts. Examples:
-- Work in partnership with the USGS's Western Mountain Initiative.
-- Collaborate with Mountain Research Initiative/UNESCO’s Global Change in Mountain Regions Project.
-- Expand the “Climate-Friendly Parks Initiative” to additional National Parks.
-- Promote the “Sierra Nevada Climate Change Assessment Project” (SNCCAP)
(5) Seek allocated funds for CIRMOUNT. Federal, regional and state support will be sought through established
protocols, and with organizations such as, NCEAS (National Centers for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis),
NOAA, USGS, NASA, NSF, and other grant opportunities.
These are only examples of immediate opportunities for CIRMOUNT; we welcome critical comments, new
ideas, and active participation by others interested in the CIRMOUNT vision.
MCSS Coordinating Group and CIRMOUNT Colleagues
Co-Chairs:
Henry F. Diaz, NOAA, Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, CO USA, and
Constance I. Millar, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany CA
with:
Daniel R. Cayan, University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA USA
Michael D. Dettinger, USGS Water Resources Division, La Jolla, CA USA
Daniel B. Fagre, USGS Biological Resources Division, West Glacier, MT USA
Lisa J. Graumlich, Montana State University, Big Sky Institute, Bozeman, MT USA
Greg Greenwood, State of California, The Resources Agency, Sacramento, CA USA
Malcolm K. Hughes, University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Tucson, AZ USA
David L. Peterson, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Seattle, WA USA
Frank L. Powell, University of California, White Mountain Research Station, San Diego, CA USA
Kelly T. Redmond, Desert Research Institute, Western Regional Climate Center, Reno, NV USA
Nathan L. Stephenson, USGS Biological Resources Division, Three Rivers, CA USA
Thomas W. Swetnam, University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Tucson, AZ USA
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