The Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico provides a unique opportunity to integrate hydrologic-atmospheric fluxes and surface states, vegetation types. cover, and distribution. and vegetation response to changes in hydrologic states and atmospheric driving forces. As a National Science Foundation (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site and a United Nations (UN) Man and the Biosphere (MAB) site, the Jornada Experimental Range has been recognized as a valuable location for long term ecological research programs to investigate the processes related to desertification. The ongoing investigations within the LTER have yielded a wealth of ground data about the basin vegetation characteristics. ecosystem dynamics, and vegetation response to hydrologic-atmospheric inputs. Measurements and studies at Jornada date back to 1912 (Ares, 1974).