Gregory Pederson

My research is focused primarily on climate variability and its role in driving biological and physical components of mountainous ecosystems of western North America. In addressing these issues I use instrumental and tree-ring based records of climate to assess the time intervals and spatial scales over which these processes operate. Of particular interest is the influence of interdecadal climate regimes, long-term temperature trends, and ocean-atmosphere teleconnections in driving glacier mass balance fluctuations, mountain snowpack, and forest disturbance events. Several recently completed projects (and collaborations) provided estimates of fluctuations in glacier mass balance for the northern U.S. and Canadian Rockies over the past 300 years. Other studies have addressed the susceptibility of natural resources and ecosystem services within national parks and protected areas to climate variability, and the climate influence on, and hazard mapping of, historic avalanche events along the transportation corridor bordering the southern end of Glacier National Park.

Current projects include: 1) spatial reconstructions of snowpack across the intermountain west, 2) climate-growth response of 5-needle pines, 3) an in-depth study of changes in the variability and timing of snowmelt, and the impacts on hydrologic resources and timing of peak flow of the major river systems within the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, and 4) climate driven species shifts in alpine lakes of the Beartooth Mountains and Glacier National Park. The central research goal of each new study is to develop a greater understanding of current and historic changes in biological and water resources as driven by climate.

This work is interdisciplinary and would not be possible without the collaboration of friends/collogues, and the institutions they work for. Funding is critical as well, and has largely been provided by 1) the U.S. Geological Survey - Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NRMSC), 2) the National Science Foundation (NSF) Geography and Regional Science, and Ecology programs, 3) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and 4) the Big Sky Institute at Montana State University.