INSPIRE Track 1: Earthcasting fluvial systems: Physical, ecological, and biogeochemical dynamics

该INSPIRE奖的部分资金来自地球科学局地球科学司的水文科学计划、地球科学局地球科学司的地貌和土地利用动力学计划、生物科学局环境生物学司的生态系统集群。大多数自然系统是由不同的过程构成的，这些过程在广泛的尺度上运行，但目前的理解主要来自对复杂程度受到抑制的孤立子系统的受控调查。因此，现有的景观和生态系统动力学模型只考虑非常有限的过程和规模，这种不完全的理解极大地限制了我们预测未来系统轨迹的能力。该项目团队将通过提供将水、土壤、沉积物、细胞、碳和养分的局部动态与大规模地貌、生态和生物地球化学结果联系起来所需的理论、模型和数据，为地球铸造耦合系统动力学建立一个通用的跨学科基础。项目组将探索河流网络的基本结构和连通性，为将流域的物理、生态和生物地球化学动态联系起来提供共同的基础。这项工作将利用随机运输和网络上的动态过程理论的同步进展来开发跨尺度的概率预测方法。由此产生的整体、多尺度模拟将用于设计更好地考虑潜在系统动态的数据收集策略。通过提出复杂网络上异常传输的一般理论，并与不同的数据收集工作合作，该项目将发展地球预测的理论和观测基础。这项研究工作将与地球、生态系统和可持续发展科学的综合、跨学科教育联系起来。项目组将开发一门关于河流系统动力学的横向课程，以及关于地貌和生物地球化学过程的相关独立教育单元，并通过一种创新的基于网络的多机构形式提供这些课程。随后，这种材料将被开发成一门大规模的开放式在线课程(MOOC)，重点是土方。该项目包括来自西班牙、加拿大、英国和奥地利等7个国家的8个国际研究伙伴。这一努力将提高预测地球和生态系统动态的能力。要实现土地、水和生态系统的长期可持续发展，就需要这样的土方能力。拟议研究的中心贡献将是确定基本过程如何相互作用，以控制河流和泛滥平原环境中的重要结果。这项工作特别侧重于河流系统，因为它们支持着广泛的人类人口，对碳、沉积物和营养物质的储存、加工和出口非常重要。该项目将开发土方预测的基本基础，并与美国和欧洲领先的数据收集工作合作，将这些基本进展转化为实际的管理战略。项目团队还将利用这些科学成果作为通过虚拟课程和现场推广活动提供的教育方案的基础。

This INSPIRE award is partially funded by the Hydrologic Sciences Program in the Division of Earth Sciences in the Directorate for Geosciences, the Geomorphology and Land Use Dyanmics Program in the Division of Earth Sciences in the Directorate for Geosciences, the Ecosystems cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology in the Directorate for Biological Sciences. Most natural systems are structured by diverse processes that operate over a wide range of scales, but current understanding is derived primarily from controlled investigations of isolated subsystems with suppressed complexity. As a result, available models for landscape and ecosystem dynamics consider only a very limited range of processes and scales, and this incomplete understanding sharply limits our ability to predict future system trajectories. The project team will develop a general trans-disciplinary basis for Earthcasting coupled system dynamics by providing the theory, models, and data needed to relate local dynamics of water, soils, sediments, cells, carbon, and nutrients to large-scale geomorphological, ecological, and biogeochemical outcomes. The project team will explore the underlying structure and connectivity of river networks to provide a common basis for linking physical, ecological, and biogeochemical dynamics in watersheds. This work will exploit concurrent advances in theory for stochastic transport and dynamical processes on networks to develop methods for probabilistic prediction across scales. The resulting holistic, multi-scale simulations will be used to design data collection strategies that better consider the underlying system dynamics. By advancing general theory for anomalous transport on complex networks and partnering with diverse data collection efforts, this project will develop both the theoretical and observational basis for Earthcasting. The research effort will be linked with integrative, trans-disciplinary education in earth, ecosystem, and sustainability science. The project team will develop a cross-cutting course on fluvial system dynamics and related stand-alone educational modules on geomorphological and biogeochemical processes, and deliver them via an innovative web-based, multi-institutional format. Subsequently this material will be developed into a massive open on-line course (MOOC) focused on Earthcasting. The project includes eight international research partners from seven countries including Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom and Austria. This effort will improve capability to predict earth and ecosystem dynamics. Such Earthcasting capability is needed to achieve long-term sustainability of land, water, and ecosystems. The central contribution of the proposed research will be to determine how basic processes interact to control important outcomes in river and floodplain environments. This effort focuses specifically on river systems because they support extensive human populations and are tremendously important to storage, processing, and export of carbon, sediments, and nutrients. This project will develop the essential underpinnings of Earthcasting and work with leading data collection efforts in the U.S. and Europe to translate these fundamental advances into practical management strategies. The project team will also use these scientific gains as the basis for educational programs delivered both through virtual courses and live outreach activities.