Longitudinal patterns of organic carbon storage in mountainous river networks

河流在全球碳循环中发挥着重要作用，但尚未完全了解。该项目将收集河流中发现的一种形式的碳的测量结果，以更好地了解其储存在不同生物群落和地理环境、河流网络和土地使用历史中的变化。这些信息可以改善河流对CO2排放和大规模碳预算的贡献的预测。项目团队将聘请美国农业部林务局的资源管理人员为他们的决策提供信息，参加奥林匹克国家公园的科学学习网络和系列研讨会，开发一个网站来传播研究成果，培训一名研究生，开发关于河流的在线、课堂和公开讲座，并与当地五年级教师合作开发教育材料，解决科罗拉多州地貌和气候变化的共同核心标准。该项目旨在量化假设河流有机碳（OC）储存的差异作为河流排水网络，气候和生物群落，土地利用的功能。它将开发一个地貌背景下，了解流域规模的有机碳动态，可以告知未来的估计，有机碳预算和二氧化碳排放量的土地。主要目的是定量评估（1）下游模式的有机碳储存在洪泛平原沉积物和倒下的木材在山区河流网络排水约400平方公里，（2）比较不同的山区河流流域的有机碳动态，以评估山区河流流域的敏感性，潜在的变化，有机碳储存可能会影响全球气候，以及（3）比较在土地利用方面不同的其他相似的山区河流网络之间的OC存储量。第四个目标是估计年龄的OC在河流走廊。

Rivers play an important role in the global carbon cycle that is not fully understood. This project will collect measurements of a form of carbon found in rivers to better understand how its storage varies across diverse biomes and geographic settings, river networks, and land-use histories. This information may improve predictions of the contribution of rivers to CO2 emissions and large scale carbon budgets. The project team will engage resource managers of the USDA Forest Service to inform their decision making, participate in the science learning network and seminar series of Olympic National Park, develop a website to disseminate research outcomes, train a graduate student, develop online, in-class, and public lectures on rivers, and develop educational materials in collaboration with a local 5th grade teacher that address the State of Colorado's common core standards for geomorphology and climate change.This project aims to quantify hypothesized differences in riverine organic carbon (OC) storage as functions of position within the river drainage network, climate and biome, and land-use. It will develop a geomorphic context for understanding watershed-scale OC dynamics that could inform future estimates of OC budgets and CO2 emissions from land. The primary objectives are to quantitatively assess (1) downstream patterns of OC storage in floodplain sediment and downed wood within mountainous river networks draining up to about 400 km2, (2) compare the OC dynamics of disparate mountain river basins to assess the sensitivity of mountain river basins to potential changes in OC storage that could affect global climate, and (3) compare magnitudes of OC storage between otherwise similar mountainous river networks that differ with respect to land use. A fourth objective is to estimate age of OC in river corridors.