Perturbations of Earth Surface Dynamics Caused by Extreme Events

该奖项将使八个美国- 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年廓尔喀7.8级灾难性地震现场举行的。它将汇集来自不同科学领域的专家，介绍和讨论在一系列时间尺度上研究地球表面动力学、地球化学循环和生态系统极端事件的研究和新方向。它将以主题为重点，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，以及为期1.5天的实地考察，前往受Gorkha地震和2016年冰川湖爆发洪水严重影响的集水区。这次会议将为《地球表面动力学》杂志即将出版的一期特刊奠定基础，该特刊将重点讨论近地表系统对极端事件的反应。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主要研究者和会议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，并优先考虑少数民族和其他在地球科学领域代表性不足的群体。极端事件，如大地震，高震级降水事件，洪水，野火和火山爆发，瞬间扰乱地球表面动力学，具有级联效应，并可能在短期和长期时间尺度上决定系统行为方面很重要。这些事件的直接影响往往引起全球的关注，并因相关的自然灾害而作出反应。地面仪器和遥感卫星数据等监测技术的最新进展，使得能够以前所未有的准确度和精确度量化地貌、地球化学和水文对此类事件的反应。这些研究记录了最初的灾难性后果和随后的级联过程。建模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和稳定的“背景”过程更重要，当整合随着时间的推移。在过去十年中，科学界对提高对短期到长期尺度上的极端事件对景观动态的理解的兴趣有所增加。然而，尽管最近取得了进展，但仍然存在巨大的知识差距，特别是在对扰动的复杂反应和在地球近地表环境中运行的各种系统之间的潜在反馈方面。除了汇集广泛的科学家，以确定极端事件对地球表面动态的作用方面的知识差距和未来研究方向外，这次会议将为如何在事件发生后最好地进行这类研究制定指导方针。这个奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过利用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估来支持的影响审查标准。

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.