Environmental Monitoring and Collaborative Research at the Cary Institute in New York State

The Cary Institute's environmental monitoring program is designed to provide long-term data about environmental conditions, especially those that have been altered by human activities. The program includes monitoring of weather and climate, air, precipitation and streamwater chemistry, as well as solar radiation and the movement of water in the landscape. Recently, biological monitoring has been added to the program using citizen science volunteers. The program began in the early 1980's with precipitation and stream monitoring to understand the deposition of components of acid rain on the landscape. We hold the longest continuous dataset of environmental chemistry in the region. The program expanded in the late 1980's to include air pollution, climate and solar radiation monitoring. We currently host sites for National Atmospheric Deposition Program for air ammonia, US Climate Reference Network for climate and the NY Department of Environmental Conservation for atmospheric ozone and SO2 monitoring. Other collaborations include work with NOAA Cooperative Remote Sensing and Technology Center and USDA Agricultural Research Service to monitor soil moisture and temperature at multiple sites as part of the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive mission. The site is part the Environmental Monitoring and Management Alliance, a regional collaborative of sites along an urban to rural gradient from New York City to Albany. Phenology monitoring is conducted via citizen science volunteers using the framework USA National Phenology Network. The program is housed at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in the Hudson River Valley in Millbrook New York. Data are provided to users in real-time and in archived files on the Cary Institute website as well as through online data repositories and collaborative agencies. Archived samples are available upon request. The Cary Institute is interested in further collaboration with interested scientists.