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Environment Focus: Researchers analyzed 23 years of bird migration data collected through NOAA’s Next Generation Radar system

Every spring, migratory birds from South and Central America arrive in the continental United States to breed. But exactly when each spring arrives varies from year to year. In a NASA-led study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, scientists linked this variability to large-scale climate patterns originating thousands of kilometers away.Migratory birds benefit ecosystems by helping to control pests, pollinating plants and serving as food for other wildlife. The more land managers know about the current migration patterns of these birdsand the migration patterns likely to develop in the future due to climate changethe better they can direct their efforts to protect the birds and restore and preserve their habitat. This study brings them one step closer to that goal.

Researchers analyzed 23 years of bird migration data collected through NOAA’s Next Generation Radar systema network of 143 radar stations across the continental U.S.to determine the variability in bird arrival times each spring. Here they made their first discovery: The US could be divided into two regions, eastern and western, each with a different pattern of variability in bird arrival times.The eastern region includes all areas east of 102 degrees west longitude  the line that bisects North Dakota in the US and runs down through Texas. The western region includes all areas west of this line.

Bird migration in the U.S. is tracked in the context of four “flyways” or major migration routes, two in the eastern U.S. and two in the western U.S. New research looks at different influences on each half of the country that affect timing. environmental cues such as temperature and weather patterns that prompt birds to travel along their path.”Our approach does not replace ‘flight paths,’ but rather introduces a different geographic framework that reflects the interannual variability of bird migration on a continental scale,” said Amin Dezfuli, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author. author of the study. “This framework helps us better understand how climate patterns affect large-scale bird movements and migration variability.”

To find out what was driving the variability of bird migration in each of these newly defined areas, the scientific team analyzed meteorological and climate model data for both areas. They found that variability in the western region was strongly linked to regional air and sea surface temperature in the adjacent (Pacific) ocean. For example, above-average temperatures in the region in 2005 caused birds to arrive earlier than average. They found that variability in the eastern region, however, is more strongly associated with large-scale atmospheric disturbances called Rossby waves. Rossby waves are caused by the rotation of the Earth and geography. They help carry warm air from the tropics towards the pole and cold polar air to lower latitudes. Flowing from east to west, they can be thousands of miles long and affect weather and climate patterns.

“Using climate data, we were able to attribute bird migration patterns, particularly in the eastern US, to Rossby waves,” Dezfuli said. “Rossby waves can be triggered in the tropical Pacific, thousands of kilometers away, and spread all the way to the US, given the climate conditions we associate with these bird migration patterns.”Since Rossby waves can be as long horizontally as the land itself, a high in the west can bring warmer temperatures to the region, while a pressure low in the east could simultaneously bring cooler temperatures and storms to the eastern region. This ultimately affects bird migration in both regions.

The more scientists and other stakeholders know about the effects of climate change on bird migration, the better they can prepare to protect these birds and the habitats they rely on.”Knowing the timing of migration is critical to our overall understanding of migration systems,” said Kyle Horton, co-author and biologist at Colorado State University. “This study adds a new and important dimension to this understanding, highlighting how migration systems are linked to atmospheric circulation – both near and far.”Dezfuli is now looking at how these results can be applied in the future.”Now that we have established regional associations between climate variability and bird migration patterns, we could further investigate potential changes in migration patterns under future climate scenarios,” Dezfuli said.

For more read:  https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2022/nasa-study-climate-patterns-thousands-of-miles-away-affect-us-bird-migration

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