NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Digital Reefs: A Globally Coordinated, Universally Accessible Digital Twin Network for the Coral Reef Blue Economy

NSF 融合加速器轨道 E：数字珊瑚礁：全球协调、普遍可访问的珊瑚礁蓝色经济数字孪生网络

• 批准号: 2230734
• 负责人: Anne Cohen
• 金额: $ 498.08万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230734&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Convergence; Accelerator; Track; Digital

Coral Reefs support almost one billion people worldwide, yet development of a thriving Coral Reef Blue Economy is threatened by unprecedented global climate change and lack of universal access to the data and tools needed to address 21st century challenges. Digital Reefs leverages Digital Twin Technology, Gaming Engine Platforms and Cloud Analytics to transform the way humans’ access, interact with, and use scientific data and models to solve societies’ most pressing environmental problems. Digital Reefs delivers intuitive, immersive 4-dimensional visualizations of each coral reef ecosystem and a suite of interactive user-inspired tools to empower millions of stakeholders around the world with the most effective decision-making tools in a rapidly changing ocean. Within 5 years, Digital Reefs, scaled to the globally interconnected Digital Reefs Network, will be the go-to tool for effective management, conservation, and restoration of coral reefs in the 21st century, and for communicating and sharing data, knowledge and experience. Ultimately, the Digital Reefs technology framework will provide the blueprint for expansion of Digital Twin technology oceanwide.Occupying less than 1% of the ocean surface, coral reef ecosystems play a disproportionately large role in the global economy, with an estimated annual value of $1 trillion. In the US, 4 million acres of coral reef support hundreds of thousands of jobs and protect vast expanses of coastal property, including strategic military infrastructure. Yet the sustainable growth of the Coral Reef Blue Economy is threatened by unprecedented climate change and a lack of access to intuitive, actionable data that can help to solve problems. The project bridges this gap, leveraging 21st century Digital Twin technologies to build digital replicas of actual coral reef ecosystems, continuously updated in near-real time by sensor and satellite data transmitted from the physical reef. The Digital Reefs platform employs Visualization softwares and Gaming Engines to create intuitive, immersive, interactive 4-D visualizations of each reef, and a suite of user-inspired decision-making tools via an easily navigable user-interface. Our fully functional, interactive Digital Reefs prototype of Palmyra Atoll, delivered in two years, will include 4 Data Layers (3-D reef bathymetry, temperature, currents, and benthic communities and changes through time) and 4 User Tools that facilitate climate risk assessment, ecosystem service optimization, effective restoration designs and invasive species and plastics monitoring. A modular platform design will allow easy integration of additional data and tools, guided by user-inspired research conducted throughout the project. Application of gaming engines to create immersive, Virtual Reality experiences with scientific data will deliver living coral reef ecosystems into homes, classrooms and boardrooms alike, to transform our relationship with the ocean and the Blue Economy.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.

珊瑚礁养活了全球近10亿人口，但蓬勃发展的珊瑚礁蓝色经济的发展受到前所未有的全球气候变化的威胁，并且缺乏普遍获得应对21世纪世纪挑战所需的数据和工具。Digital Reefs利用数字孪生技术、游戏引擎平台和云分析来改变人类访问、交互和使用科学数据和模型的方式，以解决社会最紧迫的环境问题。 Digital Reefs为每个珊瑚礁生态系统提供直观、身临其境的四维可视化效果，并提供一套交互式用户启发工具，为全球数百万利益相关者提供快速变化的海洋中最有效的决策工具。在5年内，扩展到全球互联的数字珊瑚礁网络的数字珊瑚礁将成为世纪有效管理、保护和恢复珊瑚礁的首选工具，并用于交流和共享数据、知识和经验。最终，数字珊瑚礁技术框架将为数字孪生技术在全球范围内的扩展提供蓝图。珊瑚礁生态系统占据不到1%的海洋表面，在全球经济中发挥着不成比例的重要作用，估计每年价值1万亿美元。在美国，400万英亩的珊瑚礁支撑着数十万个工作岗位，并保护着大片的沿海财产，包括战略军事基础设施。 然而，珊瑚礁蓝色经济的可持续增长受到前所未有的气候变化的威胁，并且无法获得有助于解决问题的直观，可操作的数据。该项目弥合了这一差距，利用21世纪世纪的数字孪生技术来构建实际珊瑚礁生态系统的数字复制品，并通过从物理珊瑚礁传输的传感器和卫星数据进行近实时的持续更新。Digital Reefs平台采用可视化软件和游戏引擎为每个珊瑚礁创建直观、身临其境、交互式的4-D可视化效果，并通过易于导航的用户界面创建一套用户启发的决策工具。我们的帕尔米拉环礁全功能、交互式数字珊瑚礁原型将在两年内交付，将包括4个数据层（三维珊瑚礁测深、温度、海流和底栖生物群落以及随时间的变化）和4个用户工具，以促进气候风险评估、生态系统服务优化、有效的恢复设计以及入侵物种和塑料监测。模块化平台设计将允许在整个项目中进行的用户启发研究的指导下轻松集成其他数据和工具。应用游戏引擎创建沉浸式的虚拟现实体验和科学数据，将把活珊瑚礁生态系统带入家庭、教室和会议室，改变我们与海洋和蓝色经济的关系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。