EAGER: Are the Dry Valleys Getting Wetter? A Preliminary Assessment of Wetness Across the McMurdo Dry Valleys Landscape

EAGER：干燥的山谷正在变得湿润吗？

• 批准号: 1045215
• 负责人: Michael Gooseff
• 金额: $ 17.14万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-12-15 至 2013-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1045215&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Dry; Valleys; Getting; Wetter

Intellectual Merit: Until recently, wetted soils in the Dry Valleys were generally only found adjacent to streams and lakes. Since the warm austral summer of 2002, numerous ?wet spots? have been observed far from shorelines on relatively flat valley floor locations and as downslope fingers of flow on valley walls. The source of the water to wet these soils is unclear, as is the spatial and temporal pattern of occurrence from year to year. Their significance is potentially great as enhanced soil moisture may change the thermodynamics, hydrology, and erosion rate of surface soils, and facilitate transport of materials that had previously been stable. These changes to the soil active layer could significantly modify permafrost and ground ice stability within the Dry Valleys. The PIs seek to investigate these changes to address two competing hypotheses: that the source of water to these ?wet spots? is ground ice melt and that the source of this water is snowmelt. The PIs will document the spatiotemporal dynamics of these wet areas using high frequency remote sensing data from Quickbird and Wordview satellites to document the occurrence, dimensions, and growth of wet spots during the 2010-­11 and 2011-­12 austral summers. They will test their hypotheses by determining whether wet spots recur in the same locations in each season, and they will compare present to past distribution using archived imagery. They will also determine whether spatial snow accumulation patterns and temporal ablation patterns are coincident with wet spot formation. Broader impacts: One graduate student will be trained on this project. Findings will be reported at scientific meetings and published in peer reviewed journals. They will also develop a teaching module on remote sensing applications to hydrology for the Modular Curriculum for Hydrologic Advancement and an innovative prototype project designed to leverage public participation in mapping wet spots and snow patches across the Dry Valleys through the use of social media and mobile computing applications.

智力优点：直到最近，干谷中的湿润土壤通常只在溪流和湖泊附近发现，自 2002 年温暖的南方夏季以来，在远离海岸线的相对平坦的谷底位置和下坡处观察到了许多“湿点”。山谷壁上的水流的来源尚不清楚，每年发生的空间和时间模式也不清楚，因为土壤湿度的增加可能会改变土壤湿度。土壤活性层的热力学、水文和侵蚀率，以及促进先前稳定的物质的运输，这些变化可能会显着改变干谷内的永久冻土和地面冰的稳定性。解决两个相互竞争的假设：这些“湿点”的水源是地面冰融化，而PI将使用高频遥感数据记录这些湿地的时空动态。他们将通过 Quickbird 和 Wordview 卫星记录 2010-11 和 2011-12 南半球夏季湿点的出现、规模和增长情况，通过确定湿点是否在每个季节的相同位置重复出现来检验他们的假设。他们还将使用存档图像比较当前和过去的分布，以确定空间积雪模式和时间消融模式是否与湿点形成一致：一名研究生将接受该项目的培训。他们还将在水文进步模块化课程中开发一个关于水文学遥感应用的教学模块，以及一个旨在利用公众参与绘制湿点和雪斑的创新原型项目。通过使用社交媒体和移动计算应用程序跨越干谷。