NNA Research: Collaborative Research: Foundations for Improving Resilience in the Energy Sector against Wildfires 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。这项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。该奖项通过在以下NNA重点领域解决社会系统、自然环境和建筑环境之间的相互作用来部分实现这一目标：北极居民、数据和观测、预测和弹性基础设施。近年来，阿拉斯加发生了高强度的野火，通常在几天内扩大到数万英亩或数十万英亩，包括偏远、人口稀少的农村地区和靠近人口中心的地区。由于气候变化，预计野火将会增加，并对阿拉斯加的能源基础设施以及需要日常生活和卫生服务电力的社区构成新的和正在出现的风险。阿拉斯加特别容易受到野火的影响，因为它与世隔绝的电网，容易起火的北方森林，以及极端的火灾行为，以及其农村社区严重依赖电力来维持健康和全年的食物供应。迫切需要增强北极社区、电力公用事业公司、应急人员和卫生组织的能力，以协作地共享资源和交换信息，以提高对野火的态势认识和应变能力。防火墙研究项目将促进以下方面的知识：(1)自然环境、能源基础设施和社会系统的要素在野火发生前、期间和之后如何相互作用，以及(2)如何在多部门利益相关者之间建立决策和沟通的协作框架，以减少社区和电力设施面临的野火风险。防火墙项目将开发一个风险知情的决策平台，该平台将集成(1)阿拉斯加土地上野火的形成、短期预测和时空传播分析，(2)阿拉斯加面临野火的电网规划、准备、响应和缓解，以及(3)社区健康和社会脆弱性指标。该项目将通过参加焦点小组、倾听会议和与社区合作伙伴进行调查来建立对问题的共同理解。该决策平台将在不同火灾制度下的电力公用事业、林业管理人员和应急人员的一系列短期和长期使用案例中进行评估，并将在阿拉斯加的一些易发生野火的地理区域进行测试。项目成果将通过针对野火恢复能力的环路社区工程解决方案弥合社会和环境挑战之间的差距，并为北极居民提供大量教育机会。教育活动包括向K-12教师和学生进行外联，以及培训使用防火墙平台产品的多部门利益攸关方，以促进平稳过渡，以便在实践中部署。该项目将有可能形成全面的综合路线图，在面临未来的野火灾难时，提高阿拉斯加及其他地区关键任务生命线基础设施的公共安全和弹性。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. This 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 addressing interactions among social systems, natural environment, and built environment in the following NNA focus areas: Arctic Residents, Data and Observation, Forecasting, and Resilient Infrastructure.In recent years, Alaska has witnessed high-intensity wildfires that often grow to tens or hundreds of thousand acres within days, both in remote, sparsely populated rural areas and close to population centers. Wildfires are projected to increase due to climate change and present new and emerging risks to Alaskan energy infrastructure and communities needing electricity for daily life and health services. Alaska is especially vulnerable to wildfires due to its isolated electricity grid, fire-prone boreal forests, and extreme fire behavior, as well as the critical dependence of its rural communities on electricity for health and year-round food supply. There is an urgent need to empower Arctic communities, electric utilities, emergency responders, and health organizations to collaboratively share resources and exchange information for improved situational awareness and resilience against wildfires. The FIREWALL research project will advance the knowledge on (1) how elements of the natural environment, energy infrastructure, and social systems interact with one another before, during, and following wildfires, and (2) how to enable a collaborative framework for decision-making and communication among multi-sectoral stakeholders to reduce wildfire risks faced by communities and electric utilities.The FIREWALL project will develop a risk-informed decision-making platform that integrates (1) formation, short-term prediction, and spatiotemporal propagation analysis of wildfires on Alaskan lands, (2) Alaska’s electricity network planning, preparedness, response, and mitigation facing wildfires, and (3) community health and social vulnerability metrics. The project will establish a shared understanding of the problem by engaging in focus groups, listening sessions, and surveys with community partners. The decision-making platform will be evaluated in a range of short-term and long-term use cases for the electric utilities, forestry managers, and emergency responders under different fire regimes, and will be tested in a number of wildfire-prone geographical zones in Alaska. The project outcomes will bridge the gap between social and environmental challenges with community-in-the-loop engineering solutions for wildfire resilience, and provide Arctic residents with numerous educational opportunities. The education activities include outreach to K-12 teachers and students, and training the multi-sectoral stakeholders using the FIREWALL platform products to facilitate a smooth transition for deployment in practice. The project will have the potential to form holistic integrated roadmaps that can enhance public safety and resilience of the mission-critical lifeline infrastructure in Alaska and beyond when facing future wildfire disasters.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.