Patterns of Precipitation and Their Control on Landscape Dynamics

降水模式及其对景观动力学的控制

• 批准号: 0642835
• 负责人: Gerard Roe
• 金额: $ 31.14万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-06-15 至 2011-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0642835&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Patterns; Precipitation; Their; Control; Landscape

One of the most enduring challenges in the Earth Sciences, existing their inceptions as fields of study, has been to understand the balance of forces acting to sculpt the landscape around us. Intuitively, it is clear that climate plays a role ? one simply has to witness a powerful river at high stage, or to see the debris curtain of rock laid out in front of a glacier. Moreover, seeing a cloud-draped mountain from afar, it is easy to understand that the role that topography itself plays in weather. It is only in recent years that quantitative tools have been brought to bear on studying the mutual interactions between atmospheric and erosional processes. This proposal tackles aspects of this challenge in one of the best settings available ? the Olympic Mountains of Washington State. A unique seven-year archive of high-resolution output from an operational numerical weather prediction model is available. It is a very sophisticated tool for diagnosing in detail the response of atmospheric flow to the topography and the consequences for the pattern of precipitation. Seven years covers a wide variety of synoptic conditions, but the pattern is remarkably persistent. For the last four years the group has operated a dense network of precipitation gauges able to evaluate this modeled pattern. Support from this grant will add automated weather stations to this network, and maintain it in the field for another three years. Hydrological models routinely convert these precipitation patterns into river discharge. Their output can be evaluated from stream flow gauges. On geologic time scales these patterns in river discharge translate into patterns of surface erosion that ultimately act to shape the mountain range itself. The second part of this proposed research will combine the latest understanding of what controls fluvial erosion and land-sliding with the understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation gained from the meteorological analyses. Broader Impacts. This work tackles a highly interdisciplinary challenge, of the sort that is the future of the Earth Sciences. The goals of the research are of interest to anyone who has hiked in the mountains and been curious about how such things came to be. The proposed work also has concrete relevance for assessment of landslide hazards, and the research group regularly engages with school children in an economically-deprived area about this work.

地球科学中最持久的挑战之一，是他们作为研究领域的创建，是要了解雕刻我们周围景观的力量的平衡。直观地，很明显，气候起着作用？人们只需要在高舞台上目睹一条强大的河流，或者看到冰川前铺设的岩石窗帘。此外，看到远处有云笼罩的山，很容易理解地形本身在天气中扮演的角色。直到近年来，定量工具才能研究大气和侵蚀过程之间的相互作用。该提议在可用的最佳设置之一中解决了这一挑战的各个方面？华盛顿州奥林匹克山。提供了来自运营数值天气预测模型的高分辨率输出的独特七年档案。它是一种非常复杂的工具，可详细诊断大气流对地形的响应以及对降水模式的后果。七年涵盖了各种各样的天气条件，但这种模式非常持久。在过去的四年中，该小组运营了一个密集的降水量表网络，能够评估这种建模模式。这笔赠款的支持将在该网络中增加自动化的气象站，并在该领域再维持三年。水文模型通常将这些降水模式转化为河流排放。可以通过流量计评估它们的输出。在地质时间上，河流排放中的这些模式转化为表面侵蚀的模式，最终起作用山脉本身。这项拟议的研究的第二部分将结合对控制河流侵蚀和土地滑坡的最新理解，以及了解从气象分析获得的空间和时间降水的理解。更广泛的影响。这项工作面临着高度跨学科的挑战，即地球科学的未来。这项研究的目标是在山上远足并对这些事情的情况感到好奇的任何人都感兴趣的。拟议中的工作还与评估滑坡危害具有具体的意义，研究小组定期与这项工作的经济贫困地区的学童互动。