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洪水，加上2022年的破纪录洪水，提供了一个宝贵的机会。它们提供了我们一生中最好的窗口，事实上可能是下一个千年的最好窗口，可以直接观察和量化塑造干旱峡谷和盆地系统形态的事件类型的直接后果。该项目的重点是收集极易腐烂的数据后，在死亡谷极端洪水事件后，飓风希拉里，将被用来约束数值模型，使水文学的洞察力，驱动景观形成过程中的沙漠景观。研究人员将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，这与盆地和山脉省以及全球沙漠环境有关。从拟议的快速吻合的信息和工具，以寻求约束下切山谷的发展形态动力学的数值模型的最新进展，因此将证明是非常宝贵的水驱动的沙漠地貌过程产生额外的见解。该小组将利用实地调查和观察整个彩虹峡谷的高水位标志，以确定洪水期间的流动深度，这是一个一阶参数，需要完善的峡谷切口的形态动力学模型。这些观测结果将通过侦察调查和使用航空图像的详细评估来跟进，这些航空图像使用从地面调查和航空图像中远程收集的数据。该奖项反映了NSF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。

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.