TeacherWS2015

Teacher Workshop on River Dynamics and Vegetation in the Arid West, August 10th, 2015

Introduction

NCED (National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics) and CSDMS teach the Summer Institute on Earth-Surface Dynamics, SIESD, designed to engage young scientists in a focused topic in Earth-surface dynamics. The topic of the 2013 Summer Institute will be Subsurface to Surface: recovering surface dynamics from stratigraphic records. NCED shares expertise on laboratory experiments and fieldwork and CSDMS brings numerical modeling experiments. This two-week institute invites PhD students and young faculty to participate in integrated modeling.

Topic

CU researchers, Greg Tucker, Irina Overeem and Mariela Perignon, will share insights on river processes in the Western US. Educators will learn more about the physics of water flow and sedimentation processes. We will use the Rio Puerco, New Mexico, to illustrate how river morphology rapidly changed with the introduction of the invasive tree species Tamarisk in the 1920s. More recently, efforts to destroy Tamarisk have led again to dramatic changes in channel geometry and sedimentation during floods. Thus, the Rio Puerco represents a unique natural experiment in the effects of long-term vegetation change on a dryland river system. Participants will do hands-on experiments and computer modeling that can be easily used in your own classrooms to learn about river dynamics and vegetation.

This workshop is intended for approximately 15 participants.Free lunch is provided. Participants will receive a $50 stipend for full day attendance. Participants can separately apply to receive 0.5 credits through the University of Colorado Continuing education Program.

Deadline for Application: July 10th, 2015

Register here: [1]