NNA/Collaborative Research: Emergency Response in the Arctic (ERA): Investments for Global Capabilities and Local Benefits

北极的无冰、可航行的海洋季节明显延长，从而改变了北极沃茨的活动类型。游轮正在通过西北航道航行，阿拉斯加北坡正在进行石油勘探，北方海路的货船数量正在增加。在北极阿拉斯加，这些旅游和工业活动将远离城市和工业中心的基础设施和资源，限制了北极沃茨发生紧急情况时的响应能力。出于所有这些原因，迫切需要改善北极应急响应（ERA），以满足对这些能力需求的增加。这项研究的科学贡献是创建规范性决策模型，帮助确定在何处、何时以及如何进行基础设施投资，以提高全球ERA能力，同时为北极社区带来好处。由于改善环境风险评估所需的基础设施将在北极当地社区建设和维护，因此该项目将让北极利益攸关方，包括土著社区的代表参与，以指导研究并帮助传播其成果。该项目通过以下方式促进了NSF关于导航新北极的大想法：（1）在提高ERA能力的过程中保护人类和环境福利，（2）与当地和土著居民密切合作，共同产生有关ERA基础设施位于社区时可能为社区提供的利益类型的知识。潜在的好处包括ERA基础设施的本地管理和资源的部署，培训和劳动力发展的机会，并改善交通基础设施，这项研究将创建新的业务研究（OR）模型，不仅说明在哪里和何时进行基础设施投资，以提高ERA的能力，但如何正确地将这些投资融入他们所在的社区。 为了实现这一目标，该项目正在创建一种创新的方法，与当地北极社区一起进行社会科学研究，以告知OR模型的创建，并在工作的后期阶段验证其结果。因此，本研究整合了跨OR和社会科学的方法，通过将专家当地知识纳入规划过程，将经济，社会，文化和技术可行性和可取性联系起来。这项研究的结果将改变我们对如何设计ERA系统的理解，这些系统对支持基础设施建设和维护的当地社区产生积极影响。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。

The Arctic has been experiencing significantly longer ice-free, navigable maritime seasons, thereby changing the types of activities taking place in Arctic waters. Cruise ships are travelling through the Northwest Passage, oil exploration is occurring off the North Slope of Alaska, and the Northern Sea Route is seeing an increasing volume of cargo ships travelling through it. In Arctic Alaska, these tourism and industrial activities will occur far away from the infrastructure and resources of urban and industrial centers, limiting response capabilities when an emergency occurs in Arctic waters. For all of these reasons, there is a critical need to improve Emergency Response in the Arctic (ERA) to meet the increase in the demand for these capabilities. The scientific contribution of this research is to create prescriptive decision-making models that help to determine where, when, and how to make infrastructure investments to improve global ERA capabilities while also providing benefits to Arctic communities. Because the infrastructure required to improve ERA will be built and maintained in local Arctic communities, this project will involve Arctic stakeholders, including representatives from indigenous communities, to guide the research and help disseminate its results. This project contributes to the NSF's Big Idea on Navigating the New Arctic by: (1) safeguarding human and environmental welfare in increasing ERA capabilities and (2) working closely with local and indigenous populations to co-produce knowledge about the types of benefits potentially provided to communities should ERA infrastructure be located in them. Potential benefits include local management of ERA infrastructure and deployment of resources, training and workforce development opportunities, and improved transportation infrastructure.This research will create new Operations Research (OR) models that not only account for where and when to make infrastructure investments to improve ERA capabilities but how to properly integrate these investments into the communities where they are located. To accomplish this, this project is creating an innovative methodology where social science research done in conjunction with local Arctic communities is conducted in a way that informs the creation of the OR models and, in later stages of the work, validates their results. Therefore, this research integrates methods across OR and social science that link economic, social, cultural, and technical feasibility and desirability by incorporating expert local knowledge into the planning process. The results of this research will transform our understanding of how to design ERA systems that have positive impacts in the local communities where the supporting infrastructure is built and maintained.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.