NNA Track 2: Collaborative Research: Foundations for Improving Resilience in the Energy Sector against Wildfire on Alaskan Lands (FIREWALL)

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增强了从地方到国际的新的研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，加强正式和非正式教育的努力，并在适当的情况下整合共同创造知识。该奖项通过支持具有明显潜力的规划活动来实现这一目标的一部分，以开发新的、前沿的研究想法和方法来解决NNA的目标。它整合了自然环境、建成环境和社会系统的各个方面，并解决了重要的社会挑战，创造了重要的教育机会，并与当地社区接触。北极破坏性的野火预计将以更高的频率和规模增长，其驱动因素是多方面的，如环境变化、扩大的荒地-人类界面，以及缺乏整合自然、工程和社会科学的模型来帮助协调应对和恢复决策。能源网络和野火之间的相互作用是高度相关的，因为对能源网络的不准确和不精确的管理直接和间接地加剧了野火。在地形复杂、不断受到自然力量影响、基础设施脆弱的北极地区，情况变得更加复杂，导致经济和社会损失。通过一系列研讨会，NNA项目实现了创造性的集思广益，建立了协同模型，并指导了多学科讨论，从而产生了关于更好地理解、导航、规划和适应不断演变的阿拉斯加野火制度的知识。通过能源复原力的视角，该项目支持建立更紧密的联系，并促进研究人员、当地社区和利益攸关方之间的双向对话，以提供应急准备、运营耐力和增强对野火的复原力的解决方案。这项NNA规划拨款扩大了对野火发生前、期间和之后自然环境、能源基础设施和社会系统之间相互作用的科学理解。它产生关于野火与能源系统相互作用的知识，并在这些见解的基础上制定研究方向和路线图，以部署先进的能源技术，以应对野火，同时考虑法律和监管要求以及当地社区的需求。该项目确定了阿拉斯加各种野火诱因的研究方向，加强了对阿拉斯加能源网络和野火相互作用的了解，并指导了野火复原力的战略计划。此外，该项目还让阿拉斯加当地社区在实施应对野火造成的不良社会、心理和身体后果的计划方面发挥不可或缺的积极作用。该项目的研讨会产生了一个多学科团队，他们利用所获得的知识和关系来开发解决社会和环境挑战的工程解决方案，加强北极和非北极社区之间的联系，并为北极居民提供教育机会，以培训未来的北极野火恢复能力。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, enhances efforts in formal and informal education, and integrates the co-production of knowledge where appropriate. This award fulfills part of that aim by supporting planning activities with clear potential to develop novel, leading edge research ideas and approaches to address NNA goals. It integrates aspects of the natural environment, built environment, and social systems, and addresses important societal challenges, builds significant educational opportunities, and engages with local communities.Destructive wildfires in the Arctic, which are projected to grow in increased frequency and magnitude, are driven by multifaceted factors such as environmental change, expanded wildland-human interface, and lack of models to integrate natural, engineering, and social sciences to help coordinate response and recovery decisions. The interaction between the energy network and wildfires is highly interrelated since wildfires are compounded directly and indirectly by inaccurate and imprecise management of the energy network. The situation becomes further complicated in Arctic regions with complex terrain, constant exposure to nature’s forces, and vulnerable infrastructure, leading to economic and social losses. Though a series of workshops, this NNA project enables creative brainstorming, builds synergistic models, and guides multidisciplinary discussions that will generate knowledge on better understanding, navigating, planning, and adapting to evolving Alaska wildfire regimes. Through the lens of energy resilience, the project supports building stronger ties and facilitates a two-way dialogue among researchers, local communities, and stakeholders to provide solutions for emergency preparedness, operational endurance, and enhanced resilience to wildfires. This NNA planning grant expands scientific understanding of interactions between natural environment, energy infrastructure, and social systems before, during, and following wildfires. It generates knowledge about the interaction of wildfires with energy systems and builds on those insights to develop research directions and roadmaps to deploy advanced energy technologies for structural and operational resilience against wildfires, while considering legal and regulatory requirements and local community needs. The project shapes research directions on the varied wildfire triggers in Alaska, enhances understanding of interactions of Alaskan energy networks and wildfires, and guides strategic plans for wildfire resilience. Further, the project engages local Alaskan communities with an integral and active role in implementing plans against the undesirable social, psychological, and physical outcomes of wildfires. The workshops in this project engender a multidisciplinary team that uses the knowledge and relations gained to develop engineering solutions to social and environmental challenges, strengthen the connections between Arctic and non-Arctic communities, and provide Arctic residents with educational opportunities to train the workforce of the future on Arctic wildfire resilience.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.