Selected Presentation from the INSTAAR Science Advisory Committee visit 2003.

Transcription

1 Selected Presentation from the INSTAAR Science Advisory Committee visit Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder. This seminar presentation has been posted to the internet to foster communication with the science community and the public. Most of the INSTAAR presentations were originally given in PowerPoint format; they were converted to Adobe PDF for posting. You may need to install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files. These presentations are "works in progress". They are not peer reviewed. They should not be referenced for any kind of publication. Contact the author for proper references and additional information before any use, even for unpublished works such as your own presentations. LICENSING AGREEMENT. Free use of these presentations is limited to a nonprofit educational or private non-commercial context and requires that you contact the author, give credit to the author, and display the copyright notice. All rights to reproduce these presentations are retained by the copyright owner. Images remain the property of the copyright holder. By accessing these presentations, you are consenting to our licensing agreement. 02 Oct Robert Anderson, INSTAAR. "The University of Colorado is an emerging power in surface processes research." Seminar given to the INSTAAR Science Advisory Committee. Copyright 2003 Robert Anderson. All Rights Reserved. Anderson presentation (3.7 Mb PDF)..

2 This talk originally included many PowerPoint animations which are not available in this PDF version. If interested in the animations, please contact the author. Some examples are shown below.

3 The University of Colorado is an emerging power in surface processes research

4 We have a critical mass of researchers, covering many features of and processes occurring on the earth s surface Well-positioned to be a national leader in surface processes research CSDMS initiative

5 Brief history of the idea A VISION FOR GEOMORPHOLOGY AND QUATERNARY SCIENCE BEYOND 2000 ( Anderson and Ito, 2000, GSA Today 10, 14-16) Major new initiative: Predictive Earth Surface Dynamics, this initiative has two major research activities aimed at different time scales. the Whole Basin Dynamics initiative would entail long-term study of a small set of basins, including both the erosional and depositional systems a key element of this initiative would be development of a community landscape dynamics model. -> CSDMS a linked effort titled Sustainable Landscapes, aimed at developing an integrated set of predictive tools for event-based hazards prediction and mitigation ('landscape forecasting') Plus: dating facilities, laser altimetry, national experimental laboratories

6 What our colleagues have done in the climate sciences in the ocean sciences in the hydrological sciences

7 While our colleagues in oceans and atmospheres have gotten organized, the earth surface processes community has not. Until now Models have proliferated Models are reproduced Models tend to be single feature-driven hillslopes creep, landslides rivers bedrock rivers alluvial rivers braiding meandering glaciers Linked models that span these domains are rare

8 The whole-margin concept: a field program Continental margins consist of coupled transport regimes, each with distinct sediment dynamics Transport regimes Û sedimentary facies The MARGINS program, Source-to-sink component A field program to cross the margin

9 The Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System CSDMS 2001 NSF-sponsored workshop at INSTAAR (leaders: James Syvitski, Chris Paola, Rudy Slingerland); 20 of 60 participants from INSTAAR Major new initiative at NSF, likely to be funded soon INSTAAR wishes to become the National Center for this modeling effort Why INSTAAR? why would others agree to INSTAAR? what is in it for INSTAAR?

10 The Challenge Deep time Self-organization, Importance of rare events

11 The climate context Zachos, 2001

12 The goals of CSDMS Develop a unified predictive science and promote quantitative modeling of surface processes Streamlining the process of idea generation and hypohesis testing Enabling rapid generation and application of models tailored to specific settings, scientific problems and time scales by selecting and linking individual components

13 How the science will work at CSDMS: The major modules and working groups Tectonics, Hillslopes, Rivers, Glaciers, Coastal, Shelf/marine Each starts from first principles (e.g. conservation equation, transport equations, source and sink strength) Process descriptions must explicitly account for climatic, hydrologic, oceanic forcing. Linkages are the key. Each element plays the role of boundary condition for one or more others.

14 We must implement the best practices of our sister numerical earth-sciences, including hydrology (e.g. MODFLOW), glaciology (e.g. EISMINT), oceanography (e.g. Modular Ocean Model), and atmospheric science (e.g. Community Climate Model). NOTE: most of these are in town! Need a central location for the model Modular design

15 Linkages to existing programs EuroStratform Modeling and many others

16 Proposed Organization of a CSDMS Program Steering Committee Advisory Board National Center Working Groups Working Groups Working Groups Working Groups Working Groups Individual Scientists and Teams NSF Funding Review Oversight NASA ONR ARO USGS NOAA Support

17 Recommendations to NSF from CSDMS steering group, summer 2003 (1) NSF and other interested agencies establish the initiative. (2) A steering committee should execute the initiative. (3) A national center be established early to help the community coordinate its efforts, ensure standards, and enhance protocols. (4) Observational and experimental research be coordinated to test CSDMS predictions. (5) A CSDMS Data Bank for surface-process data be established. (6) A call for proposals be initiated to develop the working groups and nodes to foster information exchange and the development of specific modules.

18 Why establish The Center at INSTAAR? Critical mass of researchers Experience different landscape elements team-building leadership (workshops, journals ) Infrastructure Parallel efforts nearby at institutes and agencies Boulder itself is an attractant and already being discussed as the center

19 We cover the major environments We cross the Margin We cover arctic and alpine We go global in the fluvial inputs We have increased our geographic breadth since the last review

20 The ECI Facility (only supercomputer dedicated to surface processes) 1800 sq ft facility space raised new floors fire-fighting system air cooling with humidity control UPS back-up power supply Sun Enterprise 6500 (deeppurple): MHz processors; 24GB-RAM; 545GB-HD; A3500-RAID Sun Enterprise 5500 (mysticplum): 8-450MHz processors; 8GB-RAM; 218GB-HD; A1000-RAID StorEdge L1000: tape library: >1TB native storage SunRay Terminal System (20) Plotters, printers, scanners ECI Facility Ribbon Cutting, INSTAAR, Oct. 1, 2001

21 Major data bases stored at ECI Everything to do with the earth s surface Topography Precipitation River discharge Dams Sediment discharge

22 Boulder is a place researchers will want to come including graduate students Proximity to the mountains Cluster of other institutes and intellectual resources A natural laboratory spanning a range of climatic, geomorphic and ecological zones

23 What does INSTAAR gain from becoming the center? Resource stream for infrastructure Access to the cutting edge in computational resources Visiting scientists at the leading edge of our science A knitting agent for existing researchers and groups Attractant for the best graduate students very comprehensive curriculum immersion in modern quantitative research experience in community modeling effort

24 Link between the modern and the past This effort would serve to knit several sub-groups within INSTAAR Lake core records

25 What INSTAAR needs to become the National Center and to succeed as the center: Support at the campus level for becoming the center Space! Staff support New faculty: between Applied math and INSTAAR The best graduate students and funding for them

26 If not The Center, then one or more major nodes we d prefer both Coupling of cryosphere to landscape evolution and stratigraphy Fluvial landscape evolution Marine-based sediment transport and stratigraphy

27 Visualization & Imaging Techniques

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29 FROM HARRIS, GEYER, SIGNELL

30 Modeling Landscape and Seascape Evolution The Delta Force 8-year history of funding Strong experience in collaborative work Multidisciplinary research

31 Hillslope evolution under different climate regimes

32 High alpine surfaces: weathering of bedrock and transport of regolith 5 Ma simulation. Tented initial condition

33 E W 3500 Middle and North Boulder Creeks north Glacial headwaters Elevation (m) Transient fluvial response to baselevel drop subsummit surface falls middle 2000 E uk and T sediments Boulder 500 m crystalline basement W Distance (km) 3 Million years of river incision

34 Glacial valley evolution, no tributary Kelly MacGregor

35 The REALITY check We don t just model! Collecting data to: inform/inspire/motivate new models constrain parameters in existing models constrain process rates Bench Glacier, Alaska

36 Columbia Glacier terminus retreat History 1982 Present. Accompanying speeds are ca. 25 m/day annual average. Columbia Glacier from 9000 ft. 23 September 2003.

37 Columbia Glacier forebay cleared of floating ice, 10 September Open water allowed first direct water depth measurements ever to be made in constriction. Result: Water depths predicted in 2000 by Josh Cohn confirmed. Ca. 550 m depth Measured Sept 2003.

38 Modern sediment water and discharge in glaciated environments Dating of surfaces using cosmogenic radionuclides

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