RAPID: Assessing Sentinel Responses of Lake Ecosystems to the Rim Wildfire

野火在区域到大陆甚至全球范围内改变和运输大量有机碳。植被和土壤有机质的燃烧，随之而来的是径流和侵蚀的增加，会对湖泊产生重大影响。此外，野火产生的烟雾甚至可能通过所谓的远距连接间接影响更远的湖泊。2013年的环火是加州有史以来第三大火灾，为研究这些不同类型的碳运动及其对湖泊的影响提供了机会。该项目召集了来自全国各地的专家团队，应用先进的光学和声学技术，以检查内华达山脉湖泊对溶解有机碳（使水变色）的质量和数量变化的反应，以及对湖泊生物的影响。两个主要问题是：湖泊的哪些特征会对其流域内因火灾引起的有机质变化做出反应？这种反应是否也可以通过遥相关在遥远流域的湖泊中检测到？为了解决这些问题，将在一年多的时间里对八个较大的湖泊和一组较小的湖泊进行采样。其中两个较大湖泊的流域已被大面积烧毁，并受到“环火”烟雾的影响。另外三个较大的湖泊和几个较小的湖泊位于环火本身以北约150英里处，但仍被大火的烟雾所笼罩。最后，三个湖泊位于烟雾和燃烧区域之外，将作为控制地点。将利用对湖泊本身的密集采样、卫星遥感数据和详细的化学分析来确定所有湖泊在流域中受到火灾或仅仅是烟雾的影响，以及对湖泊生态的影响。该项目将为两名博士后和三名研究生提供支持，他们将研究从陆地和空气中追踪碳流入和流经湖泊的各个方面。合作将使研究小组与旧金山供水和水库的管理人员以及一般公众之间能够交换信息。其他拓展机会将通过与塔霍环境研究中心的合作而发生。

Wildfires transform and transport large amounts of organic carbon across landscapes at regional to continental and even global scales. The burning of vegetation and soil organic matter, followed by increased runoff of water and erosion, can have big effects on lakes. In addition, smoke plumes from wildfires may even influence lakes much farther away indirectly through what are called teleconnections. The 2013 Rim Fire was the third largest fire ever in California and presents an opportunity to examine these different types of movements of carbon and their impacts on lakes. This project rallies a team of experts from across the country to apply advanced optical and acoustic technology in order to examine the responses of lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to changes in the quality and quantity of dissolved organic carbon (that colors water) and the consequences for the biology of the lakes. Two main questions are: What characteristics of lakes respond to changes in organic matter due to fires within their watersheds, and can such responses also be detected in lakes in distant watersheds through teleconnections? To address these questions, eight larger lakes and a suite of smaller lakes will be sampled over one year. The watersheds of two of the larger lakes have been extensively burned and influenced by smoke plumes from the Rim Fire. Three other larger and several smaller lakes are located about 150 miles north of the Rim Fire itself, but were still under the smoke plume from the fire. Finally, three lakes are outside of both the smoke and burn areas and will serve as control sites. Intensive sampling of the lakes themselves, data from satellite remote sensing, and detailed chemical analyses will be used to determine the exposure of all the lakes to either fire in the watersheds or just the smoke, as well as the effects on lake ecology. This project will provide support for two postdoctoral fellows and three graduate students, who will study various aspects about tracing the flow of carbon from the land and air into and through lakes. Collaborations will enable the exchange of information between the research team and managers of the San Francisco water supply and reservoirs, as well as the general public. Other outreach opportunities will happen through collaborations with the Tahoe Environmental Research Center.