Longitudinal patterns of organic carbon storage in mountainous river networks

河流在全球碳循环中扮演着重要的角色，但人们对此还不完全了解。该项目将收集在河流中发现的一种形式的碳的测量结果，以更好地了解其储量如何在不同的生物群落和地理环境、河流网络和土地使用历史中变化。这些信息可能会改善对河流对二氧化碳排放和大规模碳预算的贡献的预测。项目团队将聘请美国农业部林业局的资源经理为他们的决策提供参考，参与奥林匹克国家公园的科学学习网络和研讨会系列，开发一个网站来传播研究成果，培训一名研究生，开发关于河流的在线、课堂和公开讲座，并与当地一名五年级教师合作开发教材，阐述科罗拉多州地貌和气候变化的共同核心标准。该项目旨在量化假设的河流有机碳(OC)储量差异，作为河流排水网络中的位置、气候和生物群以及土地利用的函数。它将为理解分水岭尺度的有机碳动态提供地貌背景，从而为未来对有机碳预算和陆地二氧化碳排放的估计提供信息。其主要目标是定量评估(1)洪泛平原沉积物中有机碳储存的下游模式，以及(2)比较不同山区河流流域的有机碳动态，以评估山区河流流域对可能影响全球气候的有机碳储存的潜在变化的敏感性，以及(3)比较在土地利用方面不同的相似山区河流网络之间的有机碳储存的大小。第四个目标是估计河流走廊中的有机化合物的年龄。

Rivers play an important role in the global carbon cycle that is not fully understood. This project will collect measurements of a form of carbon found in rivers to better understand how its storage varies across diverse biomes and geographic settings, river networks, and land-use histories. This information may improve predictions of the contribution of rivers to CO2 emissions and large scale carbon budgets. The project team will engage resource managers of the USDA Forest Service to inform their decision making, participate in the science learning network and seminar series of Olympic National Park, develop a website to disseminate research outcomes, train a graduate student, develop online, in-class, and public lectures on rivers, and develop educational materials in collaboration with a local 5th grade teacher that address the State of Colorado's common core standards for geomorphology and climate change.This project aims to quantify hypothesized differences in riverine organic carbon (OC) storage as functions of position within the river drainage network, climate and biome, and land-use. It will develop a geomorphic context for understanding watershed-scale OC dynamics that could inform future estimates of OC budgets and CO2 emissions from land. The primary objectives are to quantitatively assess (1) downstream patterns of OC storage in floodplain sediment and downed wood within mountainous river networks draining up to about 400 km2, (2) compare the OC dynamics of disparate mountain river basins to assess the sensitivity of mountain river basins to potential changes in OC storage that could affect global climate, and (3) compare magnitudes of OC storage between otherwise similar mountainous river networks that differ with respect to land use. A fourth objective is to estimate age of OC in river corridors.