RAPID: Characterizing El Nino Runoff And Sedimentation In Small Drainage Basins: A Geoarchaeological Study

众所周知，厄尔尼诺现象在世界范围内具有巨大的影响，但在许多方面，这些事件及其影响仍有许多需要了解。这个项目将帮助我们更好地了解过去的厄尔尼诺现象，以便人们能够更好地为未来的厄尔尼诺现象做准备。厄尔尼诺现象发生时，来自南太平洋的温暖海水向东流动，盖过了洪堡洋流的冷水，洪堡洋流沿着秘鲁海岸从南向北流动。这在通常干旱的秘鲁海岸产生了降雨，在高地产生了干旱，但也影响了墨西哥、加勒比海地区、美国甚至西欧的天气。厄尔尼诺引发的天气与这些地区的正常变化截然不同，通常会对经济和人类生活造成严重影响。因此，了解过去厄尔尼诺现象发生的时间、强度和频率对于我们了解厄尔尼诺现象以及了解如何避免或减轻其影响是很重要的。哈佛大学的杰弗里·奎尔特博士将带领一个小型研究小组，专注于秘鲁海岸厄尔尼诺现象的一个特定方面，这将产生重要的数据和信息。在15世纪，古代秘鲁人在他们广阔的运河系统中修建了土质渡槽。这些渡槽横穿较大峡谷的侧面峡谷的入海口，因此在厄尔尼诺事件期间，任何流经它们的水都能形成水坝。随着时间的推移，厄尔尼诺事件的沉积物在这些渡槽大坝后面堆积起来。虽然可以在相关沉积物中确定与厄尔尼诺有关的沉积物，但不可能确定与个别厄尔尼诺事件有关的速率。该合同将允许在多个大坝后面的区域安装测量设备，以确定即将到来的厄尔尼诺季节预计将出现的暴雨造成的泥沙堆积。然后可以对这些沉积物进行分析，以更好地了解早期的地层和沉积它们的厄尔尼诺现象。这项工作将与秘鲁当局合作完成，秘鲁当局将在事件发生时通过无人机技术进行监测。

It is now well known by the general public that El Niños have dramatic impacts world wide yet, in many ways there is still much to learn about these events and their effects. This project will help us to better understand past El Niños so that one can better prepare for them in the future. El Niños occur when warm waters from the South Pacific travel eastwards and override the cold waters of the Humboldt Current that flows from south to north along the coast of Peru. This produces rains on the normally arid Peruvian coast and droughts in the highlands but also affects the weather in Mexico, the Caribbean, the United States, and even Western Europe. El Niño-induced weather is radically different from normal variations in these areas and usually results in severe impacts to economies and human lives. Knowing when El Niños occurred in the past, their intensities, and frequencies thus are important to help us understand El Niños in general and to learn how to avoid or mitigate their impacts. Dr. Jeffrey Quilter of Harvard University will direct a small research team to focus on a specific aspect of El Niños on the coast of Peru that will produce important data and information. In the 15th century, ancient Peruvians built earthen aqueducts in their extensive canal systems. These aqueducts cut across the mouths of side canyons in larger valleys, thus creating dams for any water flowing through them during El Niño events. Over time, sediments from El Niño events were built up behind these aqueduct-dams. While el Nino related sediments can be identified in relevant deposits it is not possible to determine rates associated with individual el Nino events. This award will permit measuring devices to be installed in areas behind multiple dams to determine sediment buildup resulting from heavy rainfall predicted to occur during the upcoming el Nino season. These deposits can then be analyzed to better understand earlier strata and the El Niños that deposited them. This work will be done in cooperation with Peruvian authorities who will monitor the events via drone technology as they happen.