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In June 2022, a rain-on-snow (ROS) event occurred as the result of an atmospheric river delivering 2.5-10 cm of rain to the melting snowpack in and around Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The ROS event led to extreme flooding in northern YNP and caused extensive bank erosion, overbank deposition, and damage to infrastructure including roads and campgrounds. The degree of flooding and amount of erosion varied dramatically across northern YNP. To better understand the causes of spatial variability of flooding and erosion, we used cm-scale RTK GPS to survey flood stage indicators and channel dimensions. We typically surveyed 7 to 12 cross sections and the thalweg for each reach. A variety of stage indicators were identified including mud lines, debris lines, wash lines, and debris snags. We then used HEC-RAS to estimate peak discharge during the flood event. We estimated discharge on rivers draining the Beartooth Range (Rose Creek, Amphitheater Creek, Pebble Creek, Soda Butte Creek, Buffalo Creek, Cache Creek, and Slough Creek), the Washburn Range (Tower Creek, Lost Creek, and Blacktail Deer Creek), and the Gallatin Range (Gardner River and Gallatin River). We also determined basin area using StreamStats and calculated Riley’s Terrain Ruggedness Index from DEMs in ArcGIS. Drainage basin sizes for the surveyed reaches range from 2 km2 to 746 km2. Nearly all of the basins are categorized as moderately rugged, however, the basins draining the Beartooths are more rugged than those draining the Gallatin and Washburn Ranges. We found that, per drainage basin area, peak discharge was greatest in the Beartooth Range relative to the Gallatin and Washburn Ranges despite similar rain and snowmelt. The basins draining the Beartooth Range are characterized by extensive exposures of low porosity volcaniclastic bedrock and steep, glacially-sculpted drainages, which can generate significant overland flow, contributing to high peak discharge. In contrast, the Gallatin Range is composed of highly fractured sedimentary rocks and a thick cover of colluvium which facilitates a higher infiltration rate than the Beartooth Range, decreasing flood potential and resulting in lower peak discharge and less erosion. 

A rain-on-snow event in June 2022 led to extreme flooding in northern Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Extensive erosion and overbank deposition altered stream morphology and destroyed park infrastructure including campgrounds, facilities, and roadways. In northern Yellowstone, the previous flood of record was in 1918. The aim of this project is to compare the magnitude of the 1918 flood with the 2022 flooding event. We studied the Lamar River (LR), Soda Butte Creek (SBC), and Pebble Creek (PC) in the summer of 2023. These reaches are the same reaches used by Meyer (2001) to estimate the 1918 peak discharge. Pebble Creek and Soda Butte Creek are tributaries of the Lamar River, which has its headwaters in northern YNP. The reach of the Lamar River surveyed was upstream of the confluence with Pebble Creek and Soda Butte Creek. We used cm-scale RTK GPS to survey channel cross-sections and stage indicators. We used an acoustic doppler velocimeter to calculate current discharge to estimate channel roughness. We then reconstructed the 2022 peak discharges in HEC-RAS. Our models produced estimated peak discharges of 80-90 m3/s at PC, 120-170 m3/s at SBC, and 104-172 m3/s at the LR. Meyer (2001) estimated the peak discharge of the 1918 flood to be 55-75 m3/s at PC, 110-260 m3/s at SBC, and 450-550 m3/s at LR. Based on these estimates, the 2022 peak discharges in PC and SBC exceed those of the 1918 flood, making it the new flood of record on those reaches. The 2022 LR peak discharge, however, was lower than the 1918 estimate. This could be attributed to lower precipitation and less snowmelt in the Lamar Basin that drains the northern Absaroka Range relative to the basins of Pebble Creek and Soda Butte Creek that drain the Beartooth Range. Late spring and early summer rain-on-snow events that cause extreme flooding are likely to occur more frequently in the future because of climate change. Considering the lower relative precipitation in the Lamar Basin during the 2022 flooding, there is potential for greater magnitude flooding in the future during more spatially extensive rain-on-snow events that would increase runoff in the Lamar drainage. 

Informal learning environments play a critical role in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning across the lifespan and are consequential in informing public understanding and engagement. This can be difficult to accomplish in life science where expertise thresholds and logistics involved with handling biological materials can restrict access. Community laboratories are informal learning environments that provide access to the resources necessary to carry out pursuits using enabling biotechnologies. We investigate a group of these spaces in order to ascertain how this occurs—with specific attention to how material and intellectual resources are structured and shape learning. Using surveys and focus group interviews, we explore a group of these spaces located in the United States. We found that the spaces examined offer learning activities that are sufficiently scaffolded and flexible as to promote personalized and community-driven practice. We discuss these findings in relation to informal learning environment design and learning. 

Living organisms and their biological properties, including the capacity for transformation and representation of information, offer exciting and inspiring opportunities for transdisciplinary art and design explorations. While an emerging body of work is increasingly investigating the possibilities at the intersection of interactive computing, biology, and art, more work is needed to investigate the potential of these approaches for supporting community and public engagement and participation in art, science, and technology. In this project, we describe a multimedia transdisciplinary bioart installation and hands-on agar art activity that we presented to members of the public in a community biology lab setting. Using short interviews, observations, and questionaries, we investigated attendees' reactions and impressions of the experience and found that the event generated transdisciplinary reflections, invited participants to bring their previous knowledge and experience to bear in engaging with different aspects of the work, and that the audience benefited from contextualization by artists.