RII Track-1: Fire and Ice: Navigating Variability in Boreal Wildfire Regimes and Subarctic Coastal Ecosystems

该研究基础设施改善(RII)Track-1项目将重点关注阿拉斯加的两个生态系统：(1)覆盖全球11%陆地的北方森林；(2)占地约60万平方英里的阿拉斯加湾海岸边缘。研究人员将使用遥感、野外工作、实验室实验和建模方法来研究北方森林火灾和沿海海洋生态系统。北方火灾研究小组将确定火灾天气的驱动因素，绘制活跃的火灾行为图，并评估野火对受影响社区生态系统服务的影响。该项目将导致开发改进的火灾蔓延模型和工具，用于火灾风险评估、基于网络的火灾预报，并将为火灾管理提供信息。海岸边缘研究小组将研究近岸沿海生态系统，并评估鱼类和其他海洋物种对不同冰川环境的反应。北方大火和海岸边缘研究的结果将有利于阿拉斯加的自然资源管理，更广泛地说，将有利于野火和水文变化地区的自然资源管理。项目参与者将参与向资源管理人员和阿拉斯加社区广泛传播研究结果，并努力培训和指导K-12学校和大学各级学生和研究人员。本项目侧重于了解气候驱动的变化：1)阿拉斯加北部针叶林的火灾风险和行为；2)阿拉斯加湾沿岸的冰川和非冰川物质流动。该项目将提供全面的数据流以及情景、模型、工具和可视化，用于应对短期的气候驱动的生态变化。北方火灾研究推力将确定与火灾天气相关的大规模气候驱动因素，并使用高光谱成像和活动野火的遥感来生成改进的火灾燃料和活动火灾行为地图。海岸边缘研究推力将确定冰川融化和降水增加如何改变沿海边缘的物质流动，并随后影响近岸生物群落。这两项研究都包括人的层面的组成部分，利用社会科学研究将项目成果与维持生计的社区和人类人口联系起来。这项研究与创新的多样性、教育和劳动力发展计划的活动相结合，该计划利用教育研究来研究多样性招生工作的有效性，帮助学生克服刻板印象威胁的干预措施，以及探索科学认同途径对STEM学科中学生表现的影响的案例研究。该项目将在两个脆弱、研究不足和快速变化的生态系统中推进基础知识，并产生对阿拉斯加社区和自然资源管理者具有重大社会和经济相关性的发现。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical DescriptionThis Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track-1 project will focus on two Alaskan ecosystems: (1) the boreal forest, which covers 11% of the world's land mass and (2) the coastal margins of the Gulf of Alaska, which covers an area of about 600,000 square miles. The researchers will use remote sensing, field work, laboratory experiments, and modeling methods to study boreal forest fires and coastal marine ecosystems. The boreal fire research team will identify drivers of fire weather, map active fire behavior, and evaluate the impacts of wild fire on ecosystem services in affected communities. This project will lead to the development of improved fire spread models and tools for fire risk evaluation, web-based fire forecasts, and will inform fire management. The coastal margins research team will study nearshore coastal ecosystems and evaluate the responses of fish and other marine species to varying glacial environments. The results of both the boreal fire and coastal margins research will benefit natural resource management in Alaska and more generally in regions with wild fires and changing hydrology. The project participants will engage in broadly disseminating the findings of the research to resource managers and Alaskan communities in addition to their efforts to train and mentor students and researchers at all educational levels at K-12 schools and universities. Technical DescriptionThis project focuses on understanding climate-driven changes to 1) fire risk and behavior in Alaska's boreal forest, and 2) glacial and non glacial material flux on the coastal margins of the Gulf of Alaska. This project, will provide comprehensive data streams as well as scenarios, models, tools, and visualizations for use in responding to short-term, climate-driven ecological change. The boreal fires research thrust will identify large-scale climate drivers relevant to fire weather, and use hyperspectral imaging and remote sensing of active wildfires to generate improved maps of fire fuels and active fire behavior. The coastal margins research thrust will determine how glacial melt and increased precipitation are altering material flux across the coastal margin and subsequently influencing nearshore biological communities. Both research thrusts include a human dimensions component that uses social science research to link the project findings to subsistence communities and human populations. The research is combined with the activities of an innovative Diversity, Education, and Workforce Development plan that uses education research to study the effectiveness of diversity recruitment efforts, interventions for helping students overcome stereotype threat, and case studies that explore impact of science identity pathways on student performance within STEM disciplines. The project will advance fundamental knowledge in two vulnerable, understudied and rapidly changing ecosystems and generate findings that will have significant societal and economical relevance to Alaskan communities and natural resource managers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.