RAPID: Effects of an Extreme Rain Event in the Boulder Creek CZO

这个RAPID项目的重点是激光雷达数据收集和2013年9月科罗拉多前线风暴后的水样分析。在被确定为受影响最严重的地区，风暴后的激光雷达数据将与三年前使用相同协议为博尔德溪关键区天文台收集的数据不同。激光雷达将提供一个独特的数据集，用足够的空间分辨率来量化山坡和河道的变化，以揭示(1)山坡断层的位置和大小，以及这些断层的运输路径及其沉积带，以及(2)所有河流上的河道变化，包括垂直和横向冲刷和沉积的地点。除了激光雷达数据分析外，该项目还将分析自风暴第一天以来从景观中输送的水的化学成分。这将有助于对主要元素、有机分子和同位素的来源和运输动力学进行定量评估。持续时间长、面积广、强度大（占年平均降水量的70%）是罕见的，为解决强风暴对半干旱山地荒地-城市交界区影响的基本问题提供了难得的机会。受影响的地区包括博尔德溪关键区天文台、落基山国家公园和大汤普森河。由于风暴影响了最近发生大型野火的地区，包括2010年9月在博尔德溪发生的福米尔峡谷大火，因此有机会探索这种组合拳在景观演变中的作用。研究生和本科生将参与该项目，数据将用于测试景观如何响应罕见降水事件的模型。此外，该团队计划通过科学发现项目的K-12课程以及大学水平的教学，将与风暴相关的数据和见解注入到与当地学校的持续合作中。

This RAPID project centers on LiDAR data collection plus water sample analysis following the September 2013 storm in the Colorado Front range. In areas identified as being most highly impacted, post-storm LiDAR data will be differenced with data collected for the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory three years earlier using the same protocols. The LiDAR will provide a unique data set with which to quantify hillslope and channel change with sufficient spatial resolution to reveal (1) the locations and sizes of hillslope failures and the transport paths of these failures and their depositional zones, and (2) channel changes on all streams including sites of both vertical and lateral scour and deposition. In addition to the LiDAR data analysis, the project will analyze the chemistry of water delivered from the landscape since the first day of the storm. This will enable a quantitative assessment of the sources and transport dynamics of major elements, organic molecules, and isotopes. The long duration, widespread area, and severe magnitude of the storm (70% of mean annual precipitation) is exceptional and provides a rare opportunity to address fundamental questions about the effects of severe storms in a semi-arid mountainous wildland-urban interface. The affected region includes the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Big Thompson River. Since the storm impacted areas burned in recent large wildfires, including the Fourmile Canyon fire of September 2010 in Boulder Creek, the opportunity exists to probe the role of such one-two punches in landscape evolution. Graduate and undergraduate students will be engaged in the project, and the data will be made available to test models of how landscapes respond to rare precipitation events. In addition, the team plans to infuse storm-related data and insights into its ongoing collaborations with local schools through its K-12 curriculum of the Science Discovery program, and through teaching at the college level.