CNIC: US-Italy Research Project Development on Alpine Mountain Drainage Basin Response to Climatic Warming

非技术摘要这项美国和意大利的研究工作将促进一项新的合作，以开发确定意大利阿尔卑斯山东部不同流域如何应对气候变化的方法。美国PI Sara Rathburn将与来自Bozen-Bolzano自由大学和Milano-Bicocca大学的三名美国学生和合作伙伴合作开发一个项目，研究阿迪杰河流域的流域，该流域的自然特征和影响水和沉积物运动的通道网络。意大利阿尔卑斯山的冰川由于其规模和地理位置，似乎特别容易受到气候变化的影响。因此，该小组打算利用对流域对冰川消退的反应的初步观察，制定一个量化指数，以帮助确定在危险条件下可能需要不同管理的特别敏感或具有复原力的流域。流入山区河流的水量和泥沙量的变化影响到河道的形状，也影响到能否有效地向下游社区供水，并使泥沙量最少或最多。 考虑到这些冰川源头河流的重要性，这项工作可能会对控制农业、市政和水电需求的时间和水量产生影响。调查结果可能会提供一个有用的比较类似的流域在美国使用的历史文件的通道变化，日期的小冰河时代，在过去的250年，和目前的实地数据的水和泥沙排放量，敏感性指数，然后将进行测试，用于未来的预测。 美国和意大利的大学生将参加合作的实地研究，并应获得宝贵的早期职业经验与全球气候变化对供水的实际影响。技术摘要美国和意大利的合作是建立方法来表征在意大利阿尔卑斯山经历冰川消退的流域响应域，以开发过去，现在，以及水流和沉积物动力学的未来变化。敏感性指数将基于河谷几何形状/河道形态变化和现代过程。流域对气候变化响应的定量指标在目前的文献中并不广泛。缺乏量化指标限制了确定在气候变化下需要不同管理的特别敏感或具有复原力的流域的能力。研究结果应推进我们的知识，如何山谷的几何形状和通道平面形状记录在过去250年来的水和泥沙排放量的变化，目前的河流过程的定量测量将被用作输入的概念模型，与预测的气候变暖的基础上进行最后的比较。气候变化带来了无数的环境和社会经济挑战，针对景观应对的研究对权衡不同的减灾、适应和资源保护方案的社区有着巨大的切实利益。 美国和意大利学生将在研究的各个阶段进行合作，并接触复杂的现实环境问题。让学生参与合作研究突出了国际团队合作在科学探究和创新方面的好处，以应对未来景观变化的挑战。

Non-technical AbstractThis US-Italy research effort will catalyze a new collaboration to develop methods to identify how different river basins in the eastern Italian Alps respond to climate change. U.S. PI Sara Rathburn will work with three U.S. students and partners from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and the University of Milano-Bicocca to develop a project to study basins in the Adige River Valley selected for the valley's physical characteristics and the channel network that influences movement of water and sediment. The glaciers in the Italian Alps appear to be particularly prone to climate change due to their size and geographic location. Therefore, the team intends to use preliminary observations of drainage basin response to deglaciation to develop a quantitative index that can help identify particularly sensitive or resilient basins which may require different management under hazardous conditions. Changes to the amount of water and sediment delivered to mountain rivers influences the shape of river channels, and whether or not water is delivered efficiently and with minimal or abundant sediment to downstream communities. Given the importance of such glaciated headwater streams, this work may have implications for controlling the timing and amount of water available for agricultural, municipal, and hydropower needs. Findings may offer a useful comparison for similar basins in the U.S. Using historical documents of channel change that date to the Little Ice Age, over the last 250 years, and current field data on water and sediment discharge, the sensitivity index will then be tested for use in future projections. U.S. and Italian university students will participate in cooperative field research and should gain valuable early career experience with the practical implications of global climate change on water supply.Technical AbstractThe US-Itaian collaboration is to establish methods to characterize response domains for drainage basins undergoing deglaciation in the Italian Alps to develop landscape sensitivity indices of past, present, and future changes in flow and sediment dynamics. Sensitivity indices will be based on valley geometry/channel morphologic changes and modern processes. Quantitative indices of drainage basin response to climate change are not widely available in current literature. The lack of quantitative indices limits the ability to identify particularly sensitive or resilient basins that require different management under changing climate. Research findings should advance our knowledge of how valley geometry and channel planform record changes in water and sediment discharge over the last 250 years, and quantitative measurements of current fluvial processes will be used as input to the conceptual model, with a final comparison based on projected climatic warming. Climate change poses myriad environmental and socieo-economic challenges, and research addressing landscape response has large and tangible benefits for communities weighing different hazard mitigation, adaption and resource protection options. U.S. and Italian students will collaborate on all phases of the research and gain exposure to complex, real-world environmental issues. Exposing students to collaborative research highlights the benefits of international teamwork in scientific inquiry and innovation to address future challenges of landscape change.