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

在广泛砍伐木材之前，大量的木材历史上影响了温带森林地区的河流。这个团队将扩展现代科学仪器的能力，在阿拉斯加北部地区未改变的河流中测量木材。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。这可能会促进未来的河流恢复工作。该项目将聘请一个由2名女性研究人员和1名女性研究生组成的团队。该小组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，向该区域的8个土著社区传播研究成果。这个快速项目将在使用探地雷达(GPR)对河流沉积物成像时，对埋藏的木材产生的信号进行校准。2015年夏天，阿拉斯加育空中部的历史最低水位使人们能够使用全球定位系统(GPS)识别和标记木材的位置。随着春季高流量的到来，这些短暂的地点可能会发生变化。因此，迫切需要收集今年冬天的探地雷达测量数据。此外，PIS预计，气候变化导致的高纬度地区气温变暖和永久冻土融化将加速木材重新招募，并增加这些河流中的木材积累。在这项研究中收集的数据将为以后测试这如何影响河流过程提供依据。该项目将促进3名女科学家的事业，并使一个公共组织向土著社区传播研究成果。

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.