RAPID: Measuring the distribution and character of sedimentary deposits resulting from Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida

热带气旋可以通过侵蚀和输送沉积物对沿海地区造成重大变化。这些沉积物可以沉积到沿海的天坑和近海的蓝洞中，使科学家能够研究长期的飓风活动。然而，人们对沉积物的运输和沉积如何因不同的风暴特征而变化仍然知之甚少。飓风伊恩沿着佛罗里达西南海岸登陆，为研究强飓风如何移动沿海地区的沉积物提供了一个机会。更多地了解风暴的影响将有助于弄清与飓风有关的长期风险。该项目将研究佛罗里达州西南部沿海天坑和近海蓝洞的沉积物。这些数据将用于确定风暴中沉积的沉积物的位置、数量和种类。这项研究的结果对沿海地区对强风暴的反应具有重要意义。由于人为的气候变化，这些风暴可能会变得更加频繁。更多的风暴可能会进一步改变沿海碳循环和海洋生态系统中的营养流动。该项目的更广泛影响包括记录当地洪水模式和风暴导致的沉积物运输路径。这些信息可以用来识别未来与类似风暴相关的危害。此外，该项目将支持一名早期博士后研究员作为首席PI，学生也将参与该项目。这两个项目将与本地教育工作者和持份者紧密合作，向公众广泛传播研究结果。这项快速响应研究将检查飓风伊恩通过对沿海沉洞和近海蓝洞以及邻近海底的地貌和沉积学影响。热带气旋可以通过侵蚀和运输沉积物对海岸线和沿海海洋造成重大变化。沿海的天坑和近海的蓝洞可以作为天然沉积物陷阱，保存热带气旋沉积物运输的证据，因此可以用来重建长期的飓风活动。然而，人们对存档沉积物的空间变化以及它们与飓风特征（如强度、平移速度）的关系仍然知之甚少，因为在最近的历史中，相对较少的飓风影响了天坑重建的地点。飓风伊恩提供了一个特殊的机会，可以评估受风暴影响最严重的海岸（萨拉索塔到那不勒斯）的一些沉洞和近海蓝洞中的沉积结构和事件沉积物的组成。通过对已知特征（即强度、轨迹、移动速度、大小）的飓风中最近的、最小程度的再加工或退化的沉积物进行表征，科学家可以更好地约束古飓风沉积物与当地风暴强度的关系。此外，根据卫星图像中捕获的空间和时间限制羽流，大量的海上颗粒物有机物出口是由Ian造成的。巴哈马群岛的蓝洞沉积物记录显示，由于飓风驱动的运输，在粗糙的沉积层上含有丰富的有机层，但这些富含有机碳的沉积层的因果关系从未与天坑和蓝洞的事件沉积直接联系起来。考虑到后伊恩时期的有机物羽流与许多近海蓝洞和陆地沉洞交叉，这是一个理想的地点和时间，可以通过评估飓风后的运输潜力、沉淀时间和来源来测试这一假设。这项研究的结果将提高对飓风引起的沉积物运输的理解，这将为识别和解释沉积在天坑和近海蓝洞中的事件床提供背景。这项工作还将开始量化飓风引起的近海有机沉积物通量和来源，这对了解飓风袭击易发沿海地区的长期沿海碳循环具有重要意义。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。

Tropical cyclones can cause significant change to the coastal zone by eroding and transporting sediments. These sediments can be deposited into coastal sinkholes and offshore blue holes allowing scientists to study long-term hurricane activity. However, it remains poorly understood how sediment transport and deposition can vary due to different storm characteristics. The landfall of Hurricane Ian along the southwest coast of Florida provides an opportunity to study how intense hurricanes move sediments in the coastal zone. Knowing more about storm impacts will help clarify long-term risks associated with hurricanes. This project will study sediment from coastal sinkholes and offshore blue holes in southwest Florida. These data will be used to determine where, how much, and what kind of sediment was deposited from the storm. The results of this study have important implications in terms of coastal response to intense storms. These storms may become more frequent in response to Anthropogenic climate change. More storms may further alter coastal carbon cycling and nutrient flow in marine ecosystems. The Broader Impacts for this project include documenting local flooding patterns and sediment transport pathways that resulted from the storm. This information may be used to identify hazards associated with similar storms in the future. In addition, the project will provide support for an early-career postdoctoral researcher as the lead PI, and students will also participate in the project. Both PIs will work closely with local educators and stakeholders to disseminate the results broadly to the general public.This RAPID response study will examine the geomorphic and sedimentological impacts of the passage of Hurricane Ian on coastal sinkholes and offshore blue holes and the adjacent seafloor. Tropical cyclones can cause significant change to the shorelines and coastal oceans by eroding and transporting sediments. Coastal sinkholes and offshore blue holes can act as natural sediment traps that archive evidence of tropical cyclone sediment transport and have thus been utilized to reconstruct long-term hurricane activity. However, it remains poorly understood how archived deposits vary spatially and how they are expressed in relation to hurricane characteristics (e.g., intensity, translation speed) as relatively few hurricanes have impacted sites with sinkhole reconstructions in recent history. Hurricane Ian presents an exceptional opportunity to assess the sedimentary structure and composition of event deposits in a number of sinkholes and offshore blue holes along the coast most heavily impacted by the storm (Sarasota to Naples). By characterizing recent, minimally reworked or degraded deposits from a hurricane of known characteristics (i.e., intensity, track, translation speed, size), scientists can better constrain how paleo-hurricane deposits are related to local storm intensity. Further, significant offshore particulate organic matter export occurred as a result of Ian based on spatially and temporally constrained plumes captured in satellite imagery. Blue hole sediment records in The Bahamas contain organic rich layers atop coarse sediment beds attributed to hurricane driven transport, but the causality of these organic carbon rich beds has never been directly linked to event deposits in sinkholes and blue holes. Given that the post-Ian organic matter plumes intersect many offshore blue holes and terrestrial sinkholes, this is an ideal place and time to test this hypothesis by assessing transport potential, settling time, and provenance in the wake of hurricanes. The results of this study will improve understanding of hurricane-induced sediment transport, which will provide context for identifying and interpreting event beds deposited in sinkholes and offshore blue holes. This work will also begin to quantify hurricane-induced offshore organic sediment flux and provenance, which has important implications for understanding long-term coastal carbon cycling in coastal areas prone to hurricane strikes.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.