Since February 2024, the project “FluBig: fluvial biogeomorphology across multiple scales” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) has started. For the upcoming three years, Florian Betz from the Earth Observation Research Cluster at the University of Würzburg, Gregory Egger from the Institute of Geography and Geoecology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and further colleagues from European and Central Asian institutions will investigate the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan, a still free flowing river, to better understand how the interaction of vegetation and hydromorphology across a range of spatial and temporal scales shapes the riverine landscape.FluBig is specifically dedicated to the question, how small scale feedback mechanisms on the scales of river elements or hydraulic units influence the structures and processes on the scales of geomorphological units, reaches or even the entire river corridor and vice versa. We base upon an innovative combination of biogeomorphological succession theory along with the concept of panarchy and investigate the adaptive cycles and their linkages on these different scales. Case study is the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan. This is a still free flowing river on length of more than 600 km. Its large dimension along with high natural dynamics and diversity of river types along the longitudinal profile make this river an ideal case study for studying biogeomorphic interactions. To enable the cross-scale analysis, we combine field methods for mapping vegetation traits and geomorphic characteristics with UAV surveys and up-to-date remote satellite remote sensing to quantify adaptive cycles on different scales. Afterwards, panarchies are constructed and operationalized for different river types occurring in the Naryn River corridor. With this research, we aim to advance the quantification of biogeomorphological feedbacks in river corridors across multiple scales. This leads to a better understanding of the complex process regimes being the foundation of river corridor functioning and ecosystem service provision.
Snow and ice research in the Arctic
Our colleagues Dr. Mirjana Bevanda and Dr. cand. Jakob Schwalb-Willmann recently conducted another UAS-based fieldwork in the Arctic, focusing on temporal variability of snow and ice property. Utilizing VTOL UAS platforms equipped with LiDAR, multispectral, and...
