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

这个快速项目的中心是激光雷达数据收集以及2013年9月科罗拉多前锋地区风暴后的水样分析。在被确定为受影响最严重的地区，风暴后激光雷达数据将与三年前使用相同协议为Boulder Creek临界区天文台收集的数据不同。LiDAR将提供一个独特的数据集，用于以足够的空间分辨率量化山坡和河道的变化，以揭示(1)山坡崩塌的位置和大小、这些崩塌的传输路径及其沉积地带，以及(2)所有溪流上的河道变化，包括垂直和横向冲刷和淤积的地点。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。这将使对主要元素、有机分子和同位素的来源和运输动力学的定量评估成为可能。这场风暴持续时间长、范围广、强度大(占年平均降雨量的70%)是罕见的，为解决半干旱山区荒地-城市交界处的严重风暴影响的基本问题提供了难得的机会。受影响的区域包括Boulder Creek临界区天文台、落基山国家公园和大汤普森河。由于风暴影响了在最近的大型野火中被烧毁的地区，包括2010年9月在Boulder Creek发生的四英里峡谷大火，因此有机会探索这种一击两击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对罕见降水事件的响应模型。此外，该团队计划通过其科学发现计划的K-12课程，以及通过大学层面的教学，将与风暴相关的数据和见解注入其与当地学校正在进行的合作中。

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.