RAPID: RAINBOW CANYON AND PANAMINT VALLEY, DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK: RECONNAISSANCE IN RESPONSE TO THE FLOOD OF AUGUST 20, 2023

2023年8月由热带风暴希拉里产生的破纪录的洪水，加上之前2022年的破纪录洪水，提供了一个宝贵的机会。它们提供了我们有生之年最好的窗口，甚至可能是下一个千年最好的窗口，可以直接观察和量化影响干旱峡谷和盆地系统形态的事件类型。该项目的重点是收集在飓风希拉莉之后死亡谷发生极端洪水事件后高度易腐烂的数据，这些数据将被用来约束数值模型，这些模型提供了对驱动沙漠景观景观形成过程的水文学的洞察。研究人员将直接观察和量化直接后果，即塑造干旱峡谷和盆地系统形态的事件类型，这与盆地和山脉省以及全球沙漠环境相关。从拟议的快速研究中获得的信息和工具与数值模型的最新进展相吻合，数值模型力求限制切割山谷的发育，因此将被证明对更多地洞察水驱动的沙漠地貌过程具有宝贵的价值。该团队将利用实地考察和对整个彩虹峡谷高水位线的观测来确定洪水期间的水流深度，这是完善峡谷切割地貌动力学模型所需的一阶参数。在这些观察之后，将使用从地面测量和航空图像远程收集的数据进行侦察调查和详细评估。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The record-breaking flood of August 2023 generated by Tropical Storm Hilary, combined with the previous record-breaking flood of 2022, offer a precious opportunity. They provide the best window in our lifetime, and indeed perhaps the best window over the next millennium, to observe directly and quantify the immediate aftermath the type of event that shapes themorphology of arid canyon and basin systems. This project focuses on collection of highly perishable data following an extreme flood event in Death Valley following Hurricane Hilary that will be used to constrain numerical models that give insight on hydrology that drives landscape forming processes in desert landscapes. The researchers will directly observe and quantify the immediate aftermath the type of event that shapes the morphology of arid canyon and basin systems which is relevant for the Basin and Range Province and in global desert settings. The information and tools gained from the proposed RAPID dovetail with the recent advances in numerical models that seek to constrain morphodynamically the development of incised valleys, and therefore will prove invaluable for generating additional insights into water-driven desert geomorphic processes. The team will use field survey and observation of high-water marks throughout Rainbow Canyon to determine the flow depth during the flood, which is a first-order parameter required to refine the morphodynamic model of canyon incision. These observations will be followed up with reconnaissance surveys and detailed assessment using aerial imagery using remotely gathered data from ground-based survey, and aerial imagery.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.