Collaborative Research: RAPID: Flooding and Geomorphic Change in Yellowstone National Park

洪水等极端事件威胁基础设施、生命和生计，并改变地貌和生态系统。气候变化正在增加这类事件的发生频率，并迫切需要了解它们的驱动因素和景观反应，并将这种了解转化为减少灾害。2022年6月中旬，黄石国家公园北部及其周围的黄石河及其许多支流发生的极端洪水是由一条大气河流造成的，该河流为高海拔的积雪带来了2.5-10厘米的降雨。过去，大规模的雨雪洪水曾在黄石公园造成大规模和持续的河道变化，在气候变暖的情况下，这种情况可能会变得更加常见。2022年6月的极端事件提供了一个难得的机会来检查它的规模和对黄石河支流的影响。该项目将支持五名本科生和一名硕士研究生的研究经验，并代表着主要为本科生服务的机构和非常高研究活动的机构之间的新合作。该项目将有助于国家公园管理局的事后分析和规划。调查人员将通过社交媒体吸引广泛的受众。项目成果将被纳入大学课堂。这项研究旨在重建洪水水力学，评估2022年6月事件的水文地貌影响，了解与之前极端洪水事件相关的影响，并为黄石国家公园的地质灾害规划提供信息。这些目标将通过有针对性的实地调查、使用重复激光雷达的更大区域的地貌变化分析和水力建模来实现。调查人员的努力将集中在既适合研究问题又拥有洪水前数据的地区。研究目标包括估计2022年6月洪水的水力学，以及洪水如何影响河道几何形状和洪泛区特征，包括黄石河支流的切割和/或淤积。这项研究具有时间敏感性和紧迫性，因为洪水引发的景观变化在洪水发生后立即最明显，之后2022年的降雨事件和2023年春季融雪径流季节将进一步改变河流系统和洪泛平原。此外，快速部署将使团队能够为国家公园管理局的赛后分析和规划做出贡献。这一奖项反映了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。

Extreme events such as floods threaten infrastructure, lives, and livelihoods, as well as altering landscapes and ecosystems. Climate change is increasing the frequency of such events and heightening the imperative to understand their drivers and landscape responses and to translate such understanding into hazards reduction. In mid-June 2022, extreme floods on the Yellowstone River and many of its tributaries in and around northern Yellowstone National Park were generated by an atmospheric river that delivered 2.5–10 cm of rain to high-elevation snowpack. Large rain-on-snow floods have created large and persistent channel changes in Yellowstone in the past, and they may become more common in a warming climate. The extreme June 2022 event provides a rare opportunity to examine its magnitude and effects on Yellowstone River tributaries. This project will support research experiences for five undergraduate students and one M.S. student and represents a new collaboration between primarily undergraduate-serving and very high research activity institutions. The project will contribute to National Park Service after-event analysis and planning. The investigators will engage broad audiences through social media. Project findings will be incorporated into university classes.This research aims to reconstruct flood hydraulics and assess the hydrogeomorphic effects of the June 2022 event, to contextualize the impacts relative to previous extreme flooding events, and to inform geohazards planning at Yellowstone National Park. These goals will be accomplished by targeted field surveys, geomorphic change analysis over larger areas using repeat lidar, and hydraulic modeling. The investigators' efforts will focus on areas that are both well-suited to the research questions and have pre-flood data. Research objectives include estimating the hydraulics of the June 2022 flood and how the flood affected channel geometry and floodplain character, including incision and/or aggradation of Yellowstone River tributaries. The research is time sensitive and urgent because landscape changes induced by the floods are most evident in the immediate aftermath, before subsequent rainfall events in 2022 and the spring 2023 snowmelt runoff season further rework fluvial systems and floodplains. Further, rapid deployment will allow the team to contribute to National Park Service after-event analysis and planning.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.