North American Plants: Flora of the Great Plains . The Great Plains Flora Association. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 1986. viii, 1392 pp., illus. $55.

Science ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 235 (4790) ◽  
pp. 800-801
Author(s):  
Nancy R. Morin
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
North American

The Decline In Summer Fallow In The Northern Plains Cooled Near-Surface Climate But Had Minimal Impacts On Precipitation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Bromley ◽  
Andreas F. Prein ◽  
Shannon E. Albeke ◽  
Paul C. Stoy
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Land Management ◽  
North American ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Convective Cloud ◽  
Cloud Formation ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Summer Fallow

Abstract Land management strategies can moderate or intensify the impacts of a warming atmosphere. Since the early 1980s, nearly 116,000 km2 of crop land that was once held in fallow during the summer is now planted in the northern North American Great Plains. To simulate the impacts of this substantial land cover change on regional climate processes, convection-permitting model experiments using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were performed to simulate modern and historical amounts of summer fallow, and were extensively validated using multiple observational data products as well as eddy covariance tower observations. Results of these simulations show that the transition from summer fallow to modern land cover lead to ~1.5 °C cooler temperatures and decreased vapor pressure deficit by ~0.15 kPa during the growing season, which is consistent with observed cooling trends. The cooler and wetter land surface with vegetation leads to a shallower planetary boundary layer and lower lifted condensation level, creating conditions more conducive to convective cloud formation and precipitation. Our model simulations however show little widespread evidence of land surface changes effects on precipitation. The observed precipitation increase in this region is more likely related to increased moisture transport by way of the Great Plains Low Level Jet as suggested by the ERA5 reanalysis. Our results demonstrate that land cover change is consistent with observed regional cooling in the northern North American Great Plains but changes in precipitation cannot be explained by land management alone.

Saline Seep Development and Control in the North American Great Plains - Hydroceological Aspects

1981 ◽  
pp. 115-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.R. Miller ◽  
P.L. BROWN ◽  
J.J. DONOVAN ◽  
R.N. BERGATINO ◽  
J.L. SONDEREGGER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
North American ◽  
The North ◽  
And Control

scholarly journals Community-Engaged Research Builds a Nature-Culture of Hope on North American Great Plains Rangelands

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailey Wilmer ◽  
Lauren Porensky ◽  
María Fernández-Giménez ◽  
Justin Derner ◽  
David Augustine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
North American ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Community Engaged Research ◽  
The North ◽  
Effective Community

In the North American Great Plains, multigenerational ranches and grassland biodiversity are threatened by dynamic and uncertain climatic, economic, and land use processes. Working apart, agricultural and conservation communities face doubtful prospects of reaching their individual goals of sustainability. Rangeland research could serve a convening platform, but experimental studies seldom involve local manager communities. The Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) project, however, has undertaken a ten-year, ranch-level, participatory research effort to explore how community-engaged research can increase our understanding of conservation and ranching goals. Using ethnographic data and the nature-culture concept—which recognizes the inseparability of ecological relationships that are shaped by both biological and social processes—we examine the CARM team’s process of revising their management objectives (2016–2018). In CARM’s early days, the team established locally-relevant multifunctional goals and objectives. As team members’ understanding of the ecosystem improved, they revised objectives using more spatially, temporally and ecologically specific information. During the revision process, they challenged conventional ecological theories and grappled with barriers to success outside of their control. The emerging CARM nature-culture, based on a sense of place and grounded in hope, provides insights into effective community-engaged research to enhance rangeland livelihood and conservation outcomes.

scholarly journals Late Paleogene emergence of a North American loess plateau

Geology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majie Fan ◽  
Ran Feng ◽  
John W. Geissman ◽  
Christopher J. Poulsen
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
North American ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
North American Monsoon ◽  
Spatiotemporal Pattern ◽  
The North ◽  
Data Compilation ◽  
Climate Simulations ◽  
Central Rocky Mountains ◽  
Latest Eocene

Abstract The relative roles of tectonics and global climate in forming the hydroclimate for widespread eolian deposition remain controversial. Oligocene loess has been previously documented in the interior of western United States, but its spatiotemporal pattern and causes remain undetermined. Through new stratigraphic record documentation and data compilation, we reveal the time transgressive occurrence of loess beginning in the latest Eocene in the central Rocky Mountains, that expands eastward to the Great Plains across the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT). Our climate simulations show that moderate uplift of the southern North America Cordillera initiated drying in the Cordilleran hinterland and immediate foreland, forming a potential dust source and sink, and global cooling at the EOT expanded the drying and eolian deposition eastward by causing retreat of the North American Monsoon. Therefore, the eolian deposition reflects continental aridification induced both by regional tectonism and global climate change during the late Paleogene.

scholarly journals Two types of North American droughts related to different atmospheric circulation patterns

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 2053-2065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela-Maria Burgdorf ◽  
Stefan Brönnimann ◽  
Jörg Franke
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North American ◽  
Wave Train ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Dust Bowl ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
The Pacific

Abstract. Proxy-based studies suggest that the southwestern USA is affected by two types of summer drought, often termed Dust Bowl-type droughts and 1950s-type droughts. The spatial drought patterns of the two types are distinct. It has been suggested that they are related to different circulation characteristics, but a lack of observation-based data has precluded further studies. In this paper, we analyze multi-annual summer droughts in North America back to 1600 in tree-ring-based drought reconstructions and in a global, monthly three-dimensional reconstruction of the atmosphere. Using cluster analysis of drought indices, we confirm the two main drought types and find a similar catalog of events as previous studies. These two main types of droughts are then analyzed with respect to 2 m temperatures (T2m), sea-level pressure (SLP), and 500 hPa geopotential height (GPH) in boreal summer. 1950s-type droughts are related to a stronger wave train over the Pacific–North American sector than Dust Bowl-type droughts, whereas the latter show the imprint of a poleward-shifted jet and establishment of a Great Plains ridge. The 500 hPa GPH patterns of the two types differ significantly not only over the contiguous United States and Canada but also over the extratropical North Atlantic and the Pacific. Dust Bowl-type droughts are associated with positive GPH anomalies, while 1950s-type droughts exhibit strong negative GPH anomalies. In comparison with 1950s-type droughts, the Dust Bowl-type droughts are characterized by higher sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) in the northern North Atlantic. Results suggest that atmospheric circulation and SST characteristics not only over the Pacific but also over the extratropical North Atlantic affect the spatial pattern of North American droughts.

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