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

非技术摘要这项美国-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河流流域如何应对气候变化的方法。美国的Pi Sara Rathburn将与博岑-博尔扎诺自由大学和米兰-比科卡大学的三名美国学生和合作伙伴合作，开发一个研究阿迪奇河谷盆地的项目，该项目是根据阿迪奇河谷的物理特征和影响水和泥沙运动的河道网络而选定的。由于其大小和地理位置，意大利阿尔卑斯山的冰川似乎特别容易发生气候变化。因此，该小组打算利用流域对冰川消退反应的初步观察来开发一个量化指数，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有弹性的流域。向山区河流输送的水量和泥沙量的变化会影响河道的形状，以及是否以最少或最多的泥沙将水有效地输送到下游社区。鉴于这种冰川源头的重要性，这项工作可能会对控制农业、市政和水电需求的可用水的时间和数量产生影响。这些发现可能会为美国的类似盆地提供有用的比较。利用过去250年来小冰期的河道变化历史文件，以及目前关于水和泥沙排放的现场数据，将测试敏感性指数，以便在未来的预测中使用。美国和意大利的大学生将参与合作的实地研究，并将在全球气候变化对供水的实际影响方面获得宝贵的职业生涯早期经验。技术摘要美国和意大利的合作旨在建立方法来表征意大利阿尔卑斯山经历冰川消融的流域的响应域，以开发过去、现在和未来水流和沉积物动力学变化的景观敏感性指数。敏感性指数将基于河谷地貌/河道形态变化和现代工艺。流域对气候变化响应的量化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有弹性的盆地的能力。研究结果将增进我们对山谷几何形状和河道平面如何记录过去250年来水和泥沙流量变化的了解，当前河流演变的定量测量将用作概念模型的输入，并基于预测的气候变暖进行最终比较。气候变化带来了无数的环境和社会经济挑战，针对景观响应的研究对权衡不同减灾、适应和资源保护选择的社区具有巨大和切实的好处。美国和意大利的学生将在研究的所有阶段进行合作，并接触到复杂的、现实世界的环境问题。让学生接触合作研究突出了国际团队在科学研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 Findings may offer a useful comparison for similar basins in the U.S. Using historical documents of channel change that date to the Little Ice Age, over the last 250 years, and current field data on water and sediment discharge, the sensitivity index will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.