Jornada Basin Climate

By David Greenland and John Anderson

from "A Climatic Analysis Of Long-Term Ecological Research Sites"


Site Description
Field research at the Jornada LTER is conducted in various habitat types found within New Mexico State University's Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (25,900 ha) and the adjacent lands of the USDA Jornada Experimental Ran (78,266 ha). These lands, which form the Jornada del Muerto Basin in southern New Mexico, are found at the northern end of theChihuahuan desert (MAP- 47Kb), which extends from southcentral New Mexico,USA to the state of Zacatec as, Mexico, comprising 36% of North American Desert land (MacMahon and Wagner l985). Data for this chapter (Table 9.1, 9.2) come from a USDA weather station located in the basin.

Vegetation
Vegetation varies along the north-south axis of the Chihuahuan desert, and the habitat types studied at the Jornada are most representativeof the northern Trans-Pecos subdivision of this region. The Jornada LTER focuses on 5 habitat types: black grama grassland (Bouteloua eriopoda), creosotebush shrubland (Larrea tridentata), mesquite duneland (Prosopis glandulosa), tarbush shrubland (Flourensia cernua) and playa . The playas, dominated by a variety of grasses, are found in low- lying, periodically flooded areas that receive drainage waters from the various upslope communities.

Synoptic Climatology
The relatively low latitude of this site brings it generally under high surface atmospheric pressure. It also finds itself under the influence of easterly winds during most months with surface level airstreams having passed over the Gulf of Mexico. However, the site is in the rain shadow of both the San Andres mountains to the east and, for westerly flows, the Black Range and other ranges of the southern part of the western cordillera. Despite this rain shadow effect, in summer the Gulf air can provide moisture for intense convectional thunderstorm activity. This is especially the case when moist Gulf air meets dry air from the Arizona desert. During winter a southerly Pacific airflow can penetrate to Jornada but it is generally limited to the area west of the southern Rockies. Also, although frontal and cyclonic activity is not frequent, it is possible in winter for the area to come under the influence of cold air masses from the north.

The climate of the northern Chihuahuan desert is characterized by high amounts of solar radiation, wide diurnal ranges of temperature, low relative humidity, extremely variable precipitation, and high potential rates of evaporation. The average maximum temperature of 36 C is usually recorded in June; during January the average maximum temperature is l3 C. Precipitation averages 23 cm annually, with 52% typically occurring in brief, local, but intense, convective thundershowers during July to September. Winter precipitation during synoptic weather patterns that derive from the Pacific Ocean is more variable than summer precipitation, but it is more effective in wetting the soil profile.

Water Balance
Despite the fact that there is a summer maximum of precipitation, all of this precipitation is consumed in actual evapotranspiration. The latter is therefore restrained by the low values of the former. These monthly computations mask the fact that in the summer following convection storms there can be adequate soil moisture that might last for several days.

Climatic Factors Affecting Flora and Fauna
The Jornada lies within the Basin and Range physiographic province, in which parallel north-south mountain ranges are separated by broad valleys filled with alluvial materials. This Basin and Range topography extends westward through Arizona and Nevada to the Mojave Desert of California.Throughout this region, soil development is strongly determined by topographic position, parent material, and climatic fluctuations during the Quaternary (Gile et al. l98l). Pleistocene-age alluvial materials form Aridisols with highly developed calcic/petrocalcic horizons, known as caliche, while Holocene alluvium is often poorly differentiated.

Extremes of moisture conditions affect the flora. The general dryness of the climate causes the xerophytic vegetation to adopt numerous strategies for water conservation. These strategies include long root systems, and waxy, impermeable skin surfaces. The existence of a caliche layer in the soil acts as a barrier to moisture loss, giving rise to long term moisture availability to plants during dry seasons (Conley and Conley, 1984). Water conservation methods by the flora are important in light of the five severe droughts that have occurred at the site in the last 100 years (Van Cleveand Martin, 1991). At the other extreme, occasionally a series of convectional storms can leave surface water in the playa. When this happens a number of species, not normally active, can take advantage of the moisture conditions and flourish for a short time. The high diurnal temperature range and the high radiation loads during the day cause many of the fauna to be nocturnal in their feeding habits.

Topographic position, soil development, and human impact interact to determine vegetation dynamics in the northern Chihuahuan desert, where dramatic changes in vegetation have been observed during the last 100 years (Buffington and Herbel 1965). Large areas of former black grama grassland have been replaced by shrubland communities dominated by creosotebush, mesquite and tarbush. This has led to changes in soil resources which have important consequences for ecosystem function , linking the ecosystem processes in deserts to changes in the global environment (Schlesinger et al.1990). Similar changes in vegetation and soils have occurred over large areas of the Chihuahuan desert and in other areas of the world, where semiarid grasslands have been replaced by shrubland vegetation. It is unclear how over-grazing, climatic change, fire suppression, or rising concentrations of atmospheric CO2 have acted solely or in concert to lead to these changes in vegetation. Although the shrubland communities show lower species diversity than the original grasslands, studies at the Jornada LTER show little change in the absolute level of net primary production as a result of these changes in vegetation.

Literature Cited
Buffington, L.C . and C.H. Herbel. l985. Vegetation changes on a semidesertgrassland range from l858 to l963. Ecological Monographs 35: l39-l64.

Conley, M.R. and Conley, W.C. 1984. New Mexico State University CollegeRanch and Jornada Experimental Range: A summary of Re search, 1900 - 1983.Dept. of Fishery and Wildlife Sciences. New Mexico State University. LasCruces. N M. 83 pp.

Gile, L.H., J.W. Hawley, and R.B. Grossman. l98l. Soils and geomorphologyin the Basin and Range area of southern New Mexico--Guidebook to the DesertProject. Memoir 36, N.M. Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro.

MacMahon, J.A. and F.H. Wagner. l985. The Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuandeserts of North America. pp. l05-202. In M. Evenari et al., (eds.). HotDeserts and Arid Shrublands. Elsevier Scientific Publishers, Amsterdam.

Schlesinger, W.H., J.F. Reynolds, C.L. Cunningham, L.F. Huenneke, W.M.Jarrell, R.A. Virginia and W.G. Whitford. l990. Biological feedbacks inglobal desertification. Science 247: l043-l048.

Van Cleve, K. and Martin, S. 1991. Long Term Ecological Research in theUnited States: A Network of Research Sites. LTER Network, University ofWashington, College of Forest Resources, AR-10, Seattle, WA 98195. 178 pp.

Table 9.1

 
 SUMMARY STATISTICS JORNADA 1961-1990
                                        WETTEST DRIEST
                                        YEAR    YEAR
        MMEAN   MMAX    MMIN    PPT     (1985)  (1964)
JAN     6.0     16.4    -4.5    9       0       11
FEB     9.4     20.4    -1.6    6       8       0
MAR     13.8    25.1    2.6     4       0       2
APR     18.4    29.7    7.0     9       27      0
MAY     23.3    34.5    12.2    18      70      5
JUN     26.0    35.4    16.6    49      83      15
JUL     24.5    33.5    15.5    60      167     42
AUG     20.9    30.3    11.6    38      8       38
SEP     14.8    25.5    4.2     24      47      19
OCT     8.3     19.0    -2.4    15      24      9
NOV     3.8     13.7    -6.1    21      61      0
DEC     3.5     13.7    -6.8    13      38      0
ANNUAL  14.4    24.8    4.0     264     532     140
STDEV   0.56    0.59    1.16
                                                STDEV
Mean Temp Warmest Month                 26.0    1.08
Mean Max Temp Warmest Month             35.4    1.38
Mean Temp Coldest Month                 3.5     1.47
Mean Min Temp Coldest Month             -6.8    2.30

Annual Range of Monthly Mean Temps      22.5
No Months with Temp >0                       12
No Months with Temp >15                      5
Total Precip in Months with Temp >0  264


                                                YEAR
Highest Monthly Mean Temp               27.9    Jun-67
Overall Maximum                         38.2    Jun-81
Lowest Monthly Mean Temp                -0.1    Dec-63
Overall Minimum                         -13.2   Dec-63

Table 9.2

 
 Water budget for:  Latitude 32.5   Longitude 106.8
Field capacity 150.0 mm     Resistance curve c
MON     TEMP    UPE     APE     PREC    DIFF    ST      DST     AE      DEF     SURP    SMT     SST
JAN     6       14      12      9       -3      23      0       10      2       0       0       0
FEB     9.4     27      23      6       -17     20      -2      9       15      0       0       0
MAR     13.8    49      50      4       -46     15      -5      10      41      0       0       0
APR     18.4    77      83      9       -74     9       -6      14      68      0       0       0
MAY     23.3    110     131     18      -113    4       -5      22      109     0       0       0
JUN     26      130     155     49      -106    2       -2      51      104     0       0       0
JUL     24.5    119     144     60      -85     1       -1      60      84      0       0       0
AUG     20.9    93      107     38      -68     1       0       39      68      0       0       0
SEP     14.8    55      56      24      -32     1       0       24      32      0       0       0
OCT     8.3     22      22      15      -7      1       0       15      7       0       0       0
NOV     3.8     7       6       21      15      16      15      6       0       0       0       0
DEC     3.5     6       5       13      8       23      8       5       0       0       0       0

Yearly Totals:          794     264                             264     530     0
Explanation for water balance columns (all units are millimeters depth of water unless otherwise specified). 
MON        Month of the year
TEMP    Mean monthly air temperature in degrees Celsius
UPE     Unadjusted potential evapotranspiration
APE     Adjusted potential evapotranspiration
PREC    Precipitation
DIFF    PREC minus APE
ST      Soil moisture storage
DST     Change in storage from preceding month
AE      Actual evapotranspirationDEF    Soil moisture deficit
SURP    Soil moisture surplus
SMT     Snowmelt
SST     Water equivalent held in snowpack

Charts
Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2 Figure 9.3
Last modified December 12, 1996
greenlan@oregon.uoregon.edu