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

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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.