EAR-PF: Controls on weathering, solute fluxes, and geologic carbon cycling in glacierized catchments

安娜伯格斯特罗姆博士已被授予美国国家科学基金会博士后奖学金，在科罗拉多州立大学工作，研究化学风化及其在冰川流域地球化学循环中的作用。根据流域的地质特性和其他特征，流域有可能通过消耗或释放二氧化碳而成为地质碳循环的主要贡献者。然而，冰川流域在全球碳循环中的作用是未知的，因为这些系统的水文和溶质通量知之甚少。这项研究将以一种新的方式统一水文理论和地球化学，以了解对阿拉斯加沿海冰川流域气候影响的控制，该地区目前冰川质量损失迅速，具有非常大的生态和经济影响。这一认识将应用于全球数据集，以评估冰川流域在全球碳循环中的作用。将设计一系列高中和本科教学模块，向学生介绍这些流域和概念。博士后还将与公民科学项目进行公开演讲和合作。这项研究将两个密切相关但尚未完全整合的理论结合在一起，以了解气候导致的溶质通量的驱动过程以及冰川流域碳汇或碳源的强度。在流域水文学中，浓度-流量关系用于推断溶质生成机制的过程理解，而很少探索溶质的命运。在地球化学风化通量的估计，这种知识的变化关系还没有完全整合到我们的溶质通量估计和碳循环的理解。耦合这两种方法是一个强有力的方式来推进我们的理解冰川流域在全球地球化学循环中的作用，以及更普遍的化学风化率的主导控制。这一综合研究框架将开发金刚狼冰川流域位于阿拉斯加中南部的基奈半岛，采用连续水质监测和定期水取样溶质化学。然后，这将被应用到，并与全球数据集的冰川流域进行测试，以了解主导过程和流域特征，确定风化衍生的溶质通量的大小和性质。这项研究将提高我们对冰川流域内水文过程的理解，以及这些流域在全球碳循环中的作用，并将提供一个大型的公开可用的全球数据集的溶质通量和景观特征，从高溶质通量watersheds.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Dr. Anna Bergstrom has been awarded an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to work at Colorado State University to study chemical weathering and its role in biogeochemical cycles on glacierized watersheds. Depending on geologic properties and other characteristics of the watershed, watersheds have the potential to be major contributors to the geologic carbon cycle though consumption or release of carbon dioxide. However, the role of glacierized watersheds in the global carbon cycle is unknown because hydrology and solute flux from these systems is poorly understood. This research will unify hydrologic theory and geochemistry in a novel way to understand the controls on weathering-derived impacts in glacierized watersheds of costal Alaska, an area currently seeing rapid glacier mass loss with very large ecologic and economic implications. This understanding will then be applied to a global dataset to evaluate the role of glacierized watersheds in the global carbon cycle. A series of teaching modules for high schools and undergraduate classes will be designed to introduce students to these watersheds and concepts. The postdoc will also give public talks and collaborate with citizen science projects.This research brings together two closely related but not fully integrated theories to understand processes driving weathering-derived solute flux and the strength of carbon sink or source from glacierized watersheds. In watershed hydrology, concentration-discharge relationships are used to infer a process understanding of solute generation mechanisms, with little exploration of the solute fate. In geochemical weathering estimates of flux, this knowledge of varying relationships has not been fully integrated into our understanding of solute flux estimates and carbon cycling. Coupling these two approaches is a powerful way to advance our understanding of the role of glacierized watersheds in global biogeochemical cycles, and the dominant controls on chemical weathering rates more generally. This integrated research framework will be developed for the Wolverine Glacier watershed located on the Kenai Peninsula of Southcentral Alaska using continuous water quality monitoring and regular water sampling for solute chemistry. This will then be applied to, and tested with, a global dataset of glacierized watersheds to understand the dominant processes and watershed characteristics determining the magnitude and nature of weathering-derived solute flux. This research will improve our understanding of hydrologic processes within glacierized watersheds and the role of these watersheds in the global carbon cycle and will provide a large publicly available global dataset of solute flux and landscape characteristics from high solute flux watersheds.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.