SGER: Effects of Avalanches on Local Carbon Budgets and Regional Forest Dynamics

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Avalanche paths are ubiquitous features in many parts of the western cordillera of North America and many other high mountain ranges. Evidence has mounted recently that avalanches may play more significant roles in the functioning of mountain ecosystems that previously had been anticipated. Because massive amounts of vegetation may be carried from higher slopes to valleys, avalanches can have profound impacts on changing patterns of net primary productivity in different locales, and they can dramatically alter carbon and nitrogen budgets within alpine settings. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research will support preliminary work during the summer and early fall of 2002 to examine the role that snow avalanches play in the functioning of mountain ecosystems. The investigators will assess the contribution of avalanches and avalanche paths to mountain functions in terms of their impacts on the distribution and movements of carbon, nitrogen, sediments, and woody debris. Working in the southern part of Glacier National Park in Montana, the investigators will conduct preliminary field work to estimate the amounts of carbon and woody debris moved by snow avalanches. These data and data collected from IKONIS satellite imagery at 1-meter and 4-meter scales will be used to develop and test landscape-scale flux models for carbon and woody debris. The results of this project are expected to include the first systematic assessment of the general scale and magnitude of material flux in areas affected by avalanches.The data and insights produced by this project should form a baseline that these and other investigators can use to broader the general scope of inquiry to include other materials and other locations. Major outcomes of the project expected to result from this project are a quantification of the potential significance of avalanche paths to the movement and storage of carbon and wood and a test of the potential to combine field-based and remotely sensed data to extend quantitative analyses to landscape or regional scales. The project should help develop techniques to characterize landscape structure, function, and change within a scale-dependent context that offers insights into biogeographic, geomorphic, and hydrologic studies of alpine dynamics. The project also will provide opportunities for expanded graduate student education and training.