RAPID Response to the High Park Fire, Larimer County, Colorado

在过去的一个月里，科罗拉多州北部高公园的一场野火烧毁了超过35,000公顷的土地，由于火灾的范围、严重性和持续时间，它被定义为最坏情况的火灾。该RAPID奖将提供资金，用于记录高公园火灾对被烧毁地区的森林、土壤和地貌的影响。有针对性的野外活动将收集森林组成、结构和三维分布、土壤生物群以及侵蚀和沉积速率的基线信息，并利用NEON机载观测站（AOP）遥感数据（可见光-短波红外成像光谱仪、小足迹波形激光雷达和高分辨率数码相机）在受火灾干扰的地区和邻近未燃烧地区收集遥感数据。这是一个前所未有的机会，可以使用这种新的研究工具来量化这种规模的生态偶发事件。由于这是一项快速反应提案，因此重点是收集基本数据以表征火灾后的情况，但数据收集工作是在未来研究的两大类科学问题的背景下设计的：火灾前的条件是如何影响火灾行为和影响的？和2。火灾的严重程度和模式如何影响火灾后的轨迹？该RAPID奖为收集数据以应对自然灾害提供资金；它的紧迫性源于火灾发生后地面情况极有可能迅速变化。夏季降雨会引发火灾后的侵蚀和沉积；管理活动将改变景观特征，植被将开始再生。知识上的优点不仅来自于科学问题，还来自于利用AOP在前所未有的尺度（厘米到公里）上收集地形、地貌、生物和化学信息的能力。现场和遥感数据集的结合将允许对火灾的影响进行前所未有的评估，为科学和管理界提供有用的数据产品，并支持未来对火灾后轨迹的研究。这项研究的结果将对该地区的多个利益相关者产生重大影响，包括美国和州林务局以及柯林斯堡和格里利市，这两个城市的供水都将受到火灾后侵蚀的影响。将举办一个讲习班，与利益攸关方协调研究成果，转让在处理干旱、火灾和供水之间复杂反馈方面获得的数据、产品和知识。

Over the past month a wildfire in High Park in Northern Colorado burned over 35,000 ha and was defined as a worst-case scenario fire due to the extent, severity, and duration of the fire. This RAPID award will provide funds to document the impact of the High Park fire on the forests, soils and geomorphology of the burned area. A targeted field campaign to collect baseline information on forest composition, structure and three-dimensional distribution, soil biota, and rates of erosion and sedimentation will be coordinated with remote sensing data acquisition using NEON's Airborne Observatory (AOP) remotely sensed data (visible-to-shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer, small footprint waveform lidar, and high resolution digital camera) over the area disturbed by the fire and adjacent unburned areas. This is an unprecedented opportunity to use this new research tool to quantify an ecological episodic event of this magnitude. Because this is a rapid response proposal, the focus is on essential data collection to characterize post-fire conditions, but data collection efforts are designed in the context of two broad categories of science questions for future research: 1. How did conditions prior to the fire affect fire behavior and impacts? and 2. How does fire severity and pattern affect post-fire trajectories? This RAPID award provides funds to gather data in response to this natural disaster; its urgency derives from the high probability that conditions on the ground will change rapidly after the fire. Summer rains will initiate post-fire erosion and sedimentation; management activities will alter the landscape characteristics, and vegetation will begin to regenerate. The intellectual merit derives from both the science questions but also the ability gather topographic, geomorphic, biological, and chemical information on unprecedented scales (cm to km) with the AOP. Combining the field and remote sensing datasets will allow an unprecedented assessment of the impact of the fire, provide data products useful to the scientific and management communities, and support future research on post-fire trajectories. Findings from this research will be of significant interest to multiple stakeholders in the region, including the US and State Forest Service and the Cities of Fort Collins and Greeley, who both have water supplies that will be affected by post-fire erosion. A workshop will be held to coordinate research results with stakeholders and transfer data products and knowledge gained in addressing complex feedbacks between drought, fire, and water supply.