Observed and projected climate trends and hotspots across the National Ecological Observatory Network regions

Abstract

Understanding, predicting, and managing the impacts of human‐caused climate change will require long‐term monitoring of ecological changes across spatial scales. Although the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) aims to provide the backbone for such monitoring efforts in the US, regional climate changes that were observed before and that are projected to occur after NEON's implementation must be quantified. We use historical datasets and climate model projections to assess the rates, spatial patterns, and hotspots of temperature and precipitation change across NEON ecoregions. Hotspots with the highest elevated temperatures occur in the Tundra and Taiga ecoregions (absolute increases) as well as in the Pacific Southwest ecoregion (increases as compared with current variability). The observed and projected changes in temperature and precipitation can inform future NEON monitoring and research efforts in a rapidly changing climate.