Many Cary Institute programs use environmental monitoring to provide background information for a site; to track long term changes in key environmental parameters; and to support other question-driven scientific projects. Cary Institute programs with important environmental monitoring components include: the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study; the Hudson River Ecosystem Study; the Baltimore Ecosystem Study; and Long-Term Monitoring of the Forest Ecosystem at the Cary Institute. The Cary Institute also maintains an environmental monitoring program centered on its own campus. This campus-centered program is described below.

Purpose

The Cary Institute Environmental Monitoring Program is a long-term research program. The purpose of the program is to monitor environmental parameters that are important to natural ecosystems. The program includes monitoring of air, precipitation and stream chemistry as well as meteorological, solar radiation and physical stream parameters. The Cary Institute also hosts sites for two additional programs: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Ambient Air Monitoring Program, for ground level ozone; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), a program designed to provide long-term homogeneous observations of temperature and precipitation that can be coupled to historical observations for the detection and attribution of climate change.