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

在大规模砍伐木材之前，大量木材历史上曾影响过温带森林地区的河流。该团队将扩展现代科学仪器的功能，以测量阿拉斯加北部地区未改变的河流中的木材。他们的工作将为推断过去河流的状况提供一个独特的机会。这可以促进未来河流的恢复工作。该项目将聘请由 2 名女性研究人员和 1 名女性研究生组成的团队。该团队将与育空平原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成果。该 RAPID 项目将在使用探地雷达 (GPR) 对河流沉积物进行成像时校准埋藏木材产生的信号。 2015 年夏季，阿拉斯加育空地区中部历史性的低水位使得可以使用全球定位系统 (GPS) 来识别和标记木材的位置。一旦春季高流量到来，这些短暂的位置可能会发生变化。因此，今年冬天收集探地雷达测量数据刻不容缓。此外，PI预计，气候变化导致高纬度地区气温升高和永久冻土融化将加速木材补充并增加这些河流的木材积累。本研究中收集的数据将有助于稍后测试这如何影响河流过程。该项目将促进 3 名女科学家的职业生涯，并聘请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.