SGER: Multi-scale Investigations of Disturbance and Impacts of Hurricane Hugo on an LTER Coastal Landscape

SGER：雨果飓风对 LTER 沿海景观的干扰和影响的多尺度调查

• 批准号: 9001807
• 负责人: Leonard Gardner
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1989
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1989-12-15 至 1991-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9001807&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Multi; scale; Investigations; Disturbance

Hurricane Hugo struck the coast of South Carolina just after midnight on Friday, September 22, 1989. The eye of the hurricane came ashore just north of Charleston, SC and moved northward through the state to Charlotte, NC. Hugo's landfall was near the Baruch Institute's coastal field facility and the North Inlet Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. The site received extensive storm damage and a tidal surge that was 4 meters above mean high tide. Salt marsh ecosystems and their adjacent coastal forests have evolved under a regime of gradually rising sea level. A major hurricane such as Hugo may occur only 1-3 times per century. And this kind of disturbance may trigger sudden expansion of marsh into forested areas. To assess the short and long term effects of Hurricane Hugo, researchers at the University of South Carolina will: 1. Map the spatial distribution and elevation of the storm surge in the forested portion of the North Inlet ecosystem. And they will gather information on the storm surge height and the deposition of Spartina detritus (wrack) and marsh mud in the forest floor. 2. Map ground water salinity in forest soils, changes in soil and ground water chemistry, and relate this information to tree mortality and other changes in vegetation. 3. Establish study sites where decomposition of wrack and its effect on underlying soil can be studied. 4. Acquire low altitude, false-color infrared aerial photographs and multispectral Thematic Mapper (satellite) images to document geomorphic and botanical changes caused by Hugo. Follow-up photographs and satellite imagery should be made several times during the next several years to detect changes and recovery of the ecosystem. Work on effects of large disturbances such as Hurricane Hugo address important issues about the response, resilience, and recovery of complex coastal ecosystems. Information gathered by this research should provide data on mechanisms of salt marsh expansion and forest recession in response to salinity and wind stresses. And the work should provide valuable landscape level information on the response of the North Inlet LTER ecosystem to a major disturbance. Dr. Gardner is a very experienced and productive scientist who is well qualified to conduct and direct this research on the impacts of Hurricane Hugo on the North Inlet ecosystem. He will be assisted by Co-Principal Investigators, Kjerfve, Blood, Michener, and Williams. Although the Baruch Institute's field facilities were destroyed by Hugo, field research has continued. In particular, sampling transects and established piezometer networks facilitate the objectives of this research. The University of South Carolina has excellent facilities to support this research effort.

1989 年 9 月 22 日星期五午夜刚过，飓风雨果袭击了南卡罗来纳州海岸。飓风风眼在南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿北部登陆，并向北穿过该州到达北卡罗来纳州夏洛特。 雨果的登陆地点靠近巴鲁克研究所的沿海实地设施和北湾长期生态研究（LTER）站点。 该地点遭受了大范围的风暴破坏，潮汐比平均高潮高出 4 米。 盐沼生态系统及其邻近的沿海森林是在海平面逐渐上升的情况下演变的。 像雨果这样的大型飓风每个世纪可能只发生 1-3 次。 这种干扰可能会导致沼泽突然扩展到森林地区。 为了评估飓风雨果的短期和长期影响，南卡罗来纳大学的研究人员将： 1. 绘制北湾生态系统森林部分风暴潮的空间分布和海拔高度。 他们还将收集有关风暴潮高度以及森林地面中大米草碎屑（残骸）和沼泽泥沉积的信息。 2. 绘制森林土壤地下水盐度、土壤和地下水化学变化的地图，并将这些信息与树木死亡率和植被的其他变化联系起来。 3. 建立研究地点，研究残骸的分解及其对下层土壤的影响。 4. 获取低空、假彩色红外航空照片和多光谱专题制图器（卫星）图像，以记录雨果造成的地貌和植物变化。 未来几年应多次拍摄后续照片和卫星图像，以检测生态系统的变化和恢复。 关于雨果飓风等大型扰动影响的研究解决了有关复杂沿海生态系统的响应、恢复力和恢复的重要问题。这项研究收集的信息应提供有关盐沼扩张和森林衰退响应盐度和风胁迫的机制的数据。这项工作应该提供有关北湾 LTER 生态系统对重大干扰的响应的有价值的景观水平信息。 加德纳博士是一位经验丰富、多产的科学家，完全有资格开展和指导飓风雨果对北湾生态系统影响的研究。他将得到联合首席研究员 Kjerfve、Blood、Michener 和 Williams 的协助。尽管巴鲁克研究所的实地设施被雨果摧毁，但实地研究仍在继续。 特别是，采样样线和建立的压力计网络有助于实现本研究的目标。 南卡罗来纳大学拥有优良的设施来支持这项研究工作。