Collaborative Research: Calibrating Shallow Geophysical Techniques to Detect Large Wood Buried in River Corridors

在广泛砍伐木材之前，大量的木材在历史上影响了温带森林地区的河流。该团队将扩展现代科学仪器的能力，以测量阿拉斯加北部地区未改变的河流中的木材。他们的工作将提供一个独特的机会来推断过去河流的状况。这将有助于未来的河流恢复工作。该项目将由2名女研究员和1名女研究生组成。该小组将与育空地区Flats国家野生动物保护区的科学和管理人员合作，向该地区的8个土著社区传播研究结果。该RAPID项目将校准使用探地雷达（GPR）对河流沉积物成像时由埋木产生的信号。2015年夏季，阿拉斯加中部育空地区的水位达到历史最低水平，因此可以使用全球定位系统（GPS）识别和标记木材的位置。这些短暂的位置很可能会改变，一旦高流量在春季到来。因此，迫切需要在今年冬天收集GPR测量结果。此外，PI预计，由于气候变化，高纬度地区的气温变暖和永久冻土融化将加速木材补充，并增加这些河流中的木材积累。这项研究中收集的数据将允许稍后测试这如何影响河流过程。该项目将促进3名女科学家的职业发展，并请一个公共组织向土著社区传播研究结果。

Large volumes of wood historically influenced rivers in forested regions of temperate latitudes prior to widespread wood removal. This team will extend the capabilities of a modern scientific instrument to measure wood in unaltered rivers in the boreal region of Alaska. Their work will provide a unique opportunity to infer what conditions were like in rivers in the past. This could facilitate river restoration efforts in the future. This project will engage a team of 2 female researchers and 1 female graduate student. The team will collaborate with the scientific and managerial staff at the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge to disseminate research findings to 8 indigenous communities in the region. This RAPID project will calibrate the signals created by buried wood when using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to image fluvial sediments. Historic low water levels in the Central Yukon of Alaska during summer 2015 allowed locations of wood to be identified and marked using the Global Positioning System (GPS). These ephemeral locations are likely to change as soon high flows arrive in the spring. Thus, there is an urgency to collect the GPR measurements this winter. In addition, the PIs anticipate that warming temperatures and melting permafrost in high-latitude regions as a result of climate change will accelerate wood recruitment and enhance wood accumulation in these rivers. Data collected in this study will allow later testing of how this affects fluvial processes. This project will advance the careers of 3 women scientists and engage a public organization to disseminate findings to indigenous communities.