Perturbations of Earth Surface Dynamics Caused by Extreme Events

该奖项将使8位美国科学家能够参加2019年10月13日至19日在尼泊尔举行的国际EGU伽利略会议。这次科学会议是在2015年灾难性的7.8级廓尔喀地震现场举行的。它将汇集来自不同科学领域的专家，介绍和讨论地球表面动力学，生物地球化学循环和生态系统在一系列时间尺度上的极端事件研究的研究和新方向。会议将以主题为重点，由50-80名参与者组成，包括3.5天的会谈、海报展示和分组会议，以及1.5天的实地考察，考察受廓尔喀地震和2016年冰湖溃决洪水严重影响的集水区。这次会议将为即将出版的《地球表面动力学》杂志的一期特刊提供基础，该特刊的重点是近地表系统对极端事件的响应。会议的组织者将起草一份公开文件，定义“极端事件科学”的重大挑战和研究需求，并在计划的分组会议期间收集与会者的意见。美国科学家参加这次会议将促进国际合作。美国与会者的选择将通过由首席研究员和会议的共同组织者审查的申请程序进行。他们将根据需要选择申请人，并优先考虑地球科学领域的少数民族和其他代表性不足的群体。极端事件，如大地震、高强度降水事件、洪水、野火和火山爆发，会瞬间扰乱地球表面动力学，具有级联效应，并且可能在短时间和长时间尺度上决定系统行为。由于相关的自然灾害，这些事件的直接影响往往引起全球的关注和反应。监测技术的最新进展，如地面仪器和遥感卫星数据，使景观、生物地球化学和水文对这些事件的反应能够以前所未有的准确度和精度进行量化。这样的研究记录了最初的灾难性后果和随后的过程级联。模拟工作揭示了极端扰动的潜在长期后果，并表明在许多情况下，这些罕见的高震级事件比缓慢而稳定的“背景”过程更重要。在过去的十年中，科学界对提高对短期到长期景观动态的极端事件的理解的兴趣越来越大。然而，尽管最近取得了进展，但仍存在重大的知识空白，特别是在对地球近地表环境中运行的各种系统之间的扰动和潜在反馈的复杂响应方面。除了将众多科学家聚集在一起，以确定极端事件在地球表面动力学中的作用方面的知识差距和未来的研究方向外，本次会议还将为如何在事件发生后最好地进行此类研究制定指导方针。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will enable eight U.S.-based scientists to attend an international EGU Galileo conference in Nepal on October 13th-19th, 2019. This scientific conference is being held at the site of the catastrophic 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake. It will bring together experts from various scientific fields to present and discuss research and new directions for studies of extreme events on earth surface dynamics, biogeochemical cycles, and ecosystems on a range of timescales. It will be topically focused, consist of 50-80 participants and include 3.5 days of talks, poster presentations, and breakout sessions and a 1.5-day field trip to a catchment heavily impacted by the Gorkha earthquake and a 2016 glacial lake outburst flood. The meeting will provide the basis for an upcoming special issue in the journal Earth Surface Dynamics focused on the response of near-surface systems to extreme events. Organizers of the meeting will draft a public document defining grand challenges and research needs in "extreme event science" with input from participants gathered during planned breakout sessions. Participation of U.S. scientists in this meeting will foster international collaboration. Selection of U.S. participants will occur through an application process vetted by the Principal Investigator and co-organizers of the meeting. They will select applicants based on need and give preference to minorities and other underrepresented groups in the geosciences.Extreme events, such as large earthquakes, high magnitude precipitation events, floods, wildfires, and volcanic eruptions, perturb earth surface dynamics instantaneously, have cascading effects, and are likely important in dictating system behavior on short and long timescales. The immediate impact of these events often grabs global attention and response due to the associated natural hazards. Recent advances in monitoring techniques, such as ground-based instrumentation and remotely sensed satellite data, has allowed quantification of the landscape, biogeochemical and hydrologic response to such events with unprecedented accuracy and precision. Such studies document the initial catastrophic consequences and ensuing process cascades. Modeling efforts have shed light on the potential long-term consequences of extreme perturbations, and suggest that in many cases these rare high-magnitude events are more important than slow and steady "background" processes when integrated over time. Scientific interest in improving understanding of extreme events on landscape dynamics on short to long timescales has grown in the past decade. However, despite recent progress, significant knowledge gaps exist, particularly with respect to the complex response to perturbations and potential feedbacks between various systems that operate in the Earth's near-surface environment. In addition to bringing together a wide range of scientists with the aim of identifying knowledge gaps and future research directions in the role of extreme events on earth surface dynamics, this conference will set forth guidelines for how to best approach such studies in the aftermath of an event.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.