A meteorological study of parks and timbered areas in the western yellow-pine forests of Arizona and New Mexico

Abstract

The object of the study, the results of which are presented here, was to determine the influence of the forest cover upon climate locally in the Southwest, in so far as this influence might be of importance in the management of timberlands and the possible afforestation of parks and denuded areas. Since the bearing upon forestry rather than upon meteorology is the primary consideration, comparatively little attention is given to purely meteorological problems. The study, moreover, makes no pretense of investigating the influence of the forest upon the general climate of the region. A study of the regional climatic influences would require more complete observations and an extended series of stations during a long period of years. Such observations have been made in Germany, Austria, Sweden, France, and other European countries, and have served as a foundation for the present study, although, as the results show, the relations found to exist between forest and field in Europe are in many cases greatly modified under the vastly different conditions prevailing in Arizona and New Mexico. A comprehensive review of European investigations in forest meteorology is included in Forest Service Bulletin No. 7, Part II, and in the final report of the National Waterways Commission, Senate Document 469.

Citation

Pearson, G. A. 1913. A meteorological study of parks and timbered areas in the western yellow-pine forests of Arizona and New Mexico. Monthly Weather Review. 41(10): 1615-1629.