Interactive StoryMap:
Temperature Variation Across Ecological and Altitudinal Gradients in Great Basin National Park
The impact and extent of climate change in high-altitude mountain regions like Great Basin National Park are under-observed, despite the crucial role that the hydrological systems in these regions have in providing surrounding lowlands with freshwater. The growing theory of Elevation Dependent Warming (EDW) suggests that higher elevations may be experiencing more rapid warming than environments in lower elevations due to various hypothesized positive feedbacks. More observations of temperature variation in high-altitude regions are required to test the validity of EDW, improve the projects of future climate conditions, and possibly mitigate climate impacts in these areas. This project aims to both explore the relationship between elevation and temperature changes over time within GBNP and improve the visual representation of temperature variation throughout the park. This is achieved using data collected between 2013 and 2019 from an Embedded Sensor Network (ESN) that extends through different environments and elevations within GSNP. The ESN consists of 28 sensors called LASCARS that record meteorological data every hour throughout the year. With GIS software, the temperature data collected from the ESN is used to create a StoryMap of GBNP. StoryMaps use a dynamic interface that combines multimedia and customizable maps, providing both viewer interaction and deeper contextualization of geovisualizations. This StoryMap depicts the distribution of LASCARS throughout the park. The map of ESN is further utilized to display the rates of annual temperature changes at these specific points. Temperature data from 2019 is represented through isothermal maps for both January and July, illustrating both seasonal and spatial temperature variation within the park. These series of maps provide a visual representation of the spatial distribution of the ESN throughout the park, which will be beneficial for future monitoring of climate conditions using this network. They allow for exploration of temperature variability across ecological and altitudinal gradients within the park.
Sydney,
This research study sounds very interesting as I didn’t think elevation has an effect on the effects of climate change! This will definitely help future studies to look at the differences in climate change in different regions and even methods to how to deal with the climate change difference due to elevation. Great work and great presentation!
Sydney,
This research sounds really interesting as I didn’t know that elevation plays a role in climate change! This would really help future studies and methods of how to deal with climate change differences due to the difference in elevation! Your interactive story map was really effective for your presentation. Nice job!!