NNA Track 1: Rain on Snow and Extreme Precipitation Events across the Arctic and their Impacts on Social-Ecological Systems

航行新北极(NNA)是NSF的十大想法之一。NNA项目解决了快速变化的北极地区汇聚的科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大区域和全球的经济、安全和韧性提供信息。NNA增强了新的研究伙伴关系，从地方到国际范围，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，并整合了共同生产的知识。这一奖项部分实现了这一目标。雪上雨(ROS)和极端降水事件对北极野生动物、牲畜和依赖这些资源生存的社区产生了重大影响。ROS事件后形成的冰壳和厚厚的积雪可能会干扰旅行和寻找食物。ROS事件与驯鹿和驯鹿的大规模灭绝有关。北极熊和环斑海豹的数量也受到了影响--繁殖季节早期的降雨摧毁了在雪下建造的洞穴，增加了幼崽/幼崽的死亡率。这项研究的目的是更好地了解北极地区ROS和极端降水事件的频率和原因，它们的频率和严重程度是如何随着北极变暖而变化的，以及它们的社会生态影响。这项研究主要侧重于狩猎和驯鹿放牧生计，涉及与土著猎人和牧民的密切合作。ROS和极端降水事件将使用各种类型的卫星数据、大气再分析的天气数据和地面观测来探测。土著猎人和牧民将通过广泛的当地观察、访谈、小组讨论和参与性研讨会参与进来，以验证检测算法，并评估ROS和极端降水事件对野生动物和社区活动的影响。同样，该项目将与驯鹿牧民合作，更好地了解现代冻原驯鹿游牧和死亡事件的影响，这些事件的重要性足以载入口头记录。将开发专家系统模型，以评估ROS和极端降水事件对野生动物、迁徙驯鹿放牧、狩猎和其他社区活动的影响，包括事件时间、地理规模、积雪/土地覆盖和现有社区做法。一个数据和知识中心，作为项目网站和关于北极ROS和极端降水事件及其影响的知识状况的资源，将成为该项目对美国北极观测网络的延伸。该项目还与NSF Eloka(北极当地观测和知识交流)项目密切相关，并与因纽特猎人、北阿拉斯加的社区以及拉普兰和俄罗斯的基于社区的应用生态研究进行了长期/持续的研究合作。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。

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) is one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA projects address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic. The Arctic research is needed to inform the economy, security and resilience of the Nation, the larger region and the globe. NNA empowers new research partnerships from local to international scales, diversifies the next generation of Arctic researchers, and integrates the co-production of knowledge. This award fulfills part of that aim. Rain on Snow (ROS) and extreme precipitation events have significant impacts on Arctic wildlife, livestock, and the communities that depend on these resources for subsistence. The icy crusts that form after ROS events and deep snow can interfere with travel and searching for food. ROS events have been linked to massive die-offs of reindeer and caribou. Polar bear and ringed seal populations are also affected--rains early in the breeding season destroy dens built under the snow and increase cub/pup mortality. The purpose of this study is to better understand the frequency and cause of ROS and extreme precipitation events across the Arctic, how their frequency and severity are changing as the Arctic warms, and their social-ecological impacts. With a primary focus on hunting and reindeer herding livelihoods, this study involves close collaborations with Indigenous hunters and herders. ROS and extreme precipitation events will be detected using various types of satellite data, weather data from atmospheric re-analyses, and surface observations. Indigenous hunters and herders will be engaged through extensive local observing, interviews, group discussions, and participatory workshops to validate the detection algorithms, and to assess effects of ROS and extreme precipitation events on wildlife and community activities. Similarly, the project will partner with reindeer herders to better understand implications for modern tundra reindeer nomadism and mortality episodes significant enough to have entered the oral record. Expert systems models will be developed to assess how ROS and extreme precipitation events impact wildlife, migratory reindeer herding, hunting, and other community activities in terms of event timing, geographic scale, snow/land cover, and existing community practices. A Data and Knowledge Hub, serving as the project website and a resource on the state of knowledge regarding Arctic ROS and extreme precipitation events and their impacts, will become the project's extension to the US Arctic Observing Network. The project also closely connects with the NSF ELOKA (Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic) project, and long-time/on-going research collaboration with Inuit hunters, communities across Northern Alaska, and applied community-based ecological research in Lapland and Russia.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.