automated weather monitoring (Sciuridae)

Knowledge graph centered on automated weather monitoring (Sciuridae) with 72 nodes and 157 connections. Top connected: Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic, Marmota, Yellow-bellied Marmot, Buff-tailed Bumble Bee.

Method synopsis

Integration of temperature, precipitation, and snow cover data from multiple weather stations and remote sensing platforms to characterize environmental conditions at marmot colony sites.

Synthesized from method descriptions across 19 papers using this protocol.

Procedure from a recent peer-reviewed implementation

Steps below were extracted from the most recent peer-reviewed implementation of this protocol in the corpus — Climatic variation and risk assessment in a highly seasonal mammal (2025), Current Zoology. Implementations in other papers (listed below) may differ.

1. Temperature data collection
   Obtained hourly temperature data from Gothic Research Meadow weather station (38.96°, -106.99°) operated by United States Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Status and Trends Network (EPA CASTNET, station ID GTH-161). Station located within study site with marmot colonies ranging from 100 m to 2.5 km away. Rounded each FID datapoint to nearest hour to pair with temperature from weather station.
   Quantities: Hourly temperature measurements for all 1584 FID observationsDuration: Continuous hourly measurements throughout study periodConditions: All weather conditions at Gothic Research Meadow weather station
   Equipment: EPA CASTNET weather station GTH-161
2. Snow cover data extraction
   Used RMBL's spatial data platform to calculate daily estimates of fractional snow covered area (fSCA) for each colony site. Extracted data using rSDP R packages and estimated date of snow disappearance (referred to as snow melt date) as day when fSCA averaged across all pixels of each marmot colony dropped to zero.
   Quantities: Daily fSCA estimates for all 11 marmot colonies across study periodDuration: Daily throughout each year of study periodConditions: Remotely sensed data collection
   Equipment: RMBL spatial data platform, rSDP R packages
3. Precipitation data collection
   Obtained average daily July precipitation data from private weather station operated by CoCoral5 (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network, station ID CO-GN-18) located at 38.96°, -106.99° between 100 m and 2.5 km from marmot colonies. Focused on July as primary vegetation growth month when soil moisture throughout June affects vegetation in relatively dry years.

Typical Equipment

• EPA CASTNET weather station GTH-161
• CoCoral5 weather station CO-GN-18
• RMBL spatial data platform
• rSDP R packages

Output Measurements

• hourly temperature
• daily precipitation
• fractional snow cover
• snow melt date

Papers Using This Protocol (19)

Species Studied With This Protocol

Places Where Used