The Climates of the Long-Term Ecological Research Sites. 1987. Report maintained on-line Each LTER site maintains a climate database and at many sites climate data represent the longest data set available. Increasing attention to possible ecological consequences of global change requires an understanding climate variabilities and the potential for rapid directional climate change. This electronic report describes climatic variability, climatic change scenarios, and individual climate and water budget analyses performed at 18 LTER sites. Greenland, D. The Climates of the Long-Term Ecological Research Sites.