HR: 1340h
AN: H43F-1689    [Abstracts]
TI: Effects of Boreal Forest Fires in Interior Alaska
AU: * Hutchinson, J J
EM: jjh4994@hotmail.com
AF: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Po Box: 755900, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5900, United States
AU: Toniolo, H A
EM: ffhat@uaf.edu
AF: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Po Box: 755900, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5900, United States
AB: The summer of 2004 in Interior Alaska was characterized by enormous and devastating boreal forest fires. In addition, the effects of fires on suspended load in streams, and channel development in zones affected by fires or fire suppression activities are not well understood or quantified in areas underlain by discontinuous permafrost (i.e., perennially frozen soils). To improve our knowledge in these areas, small streams draining water from areas affected by fires in different proportions (i.e.: unburned, partially, and severally burned) were systematically sampled during the summers of 2005, 2006, and 2007. All the streams were located in watersheds underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Interior Alaska. Autosamplers were deployed in the streams after spring breakup to collect daily water samples. Pressure transducers and dataloggers in conjunction with velocity measurements were used to estimate water discharge in the streams. Human influence is negligible in the study areas, with the exception of modifications caused by fire suppression activities. Thus, data collected from these areas can be considered as a natural system response to forest fires. Field observations in areas affected by fire suppression activities indicate active processes of erosion and sedimentation, in terms of a) channel formation, b) channel widening, and c) alluvial fan formation and evolution. However, vegetation is recovering in other areas. A comparison between suspended sediment concentrations collected in 2005, 2006, and 2007 will be presented at the meeting.
DE: 1810 Debris flow and landslides
DE: 1815 Erosion
DE: 1826 Geomorphology: hillslope (1625)
DE: 1838 Infiltration
DE: 1850 Overland flow
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting