RII Track-1: Harnessing the Data Revolution for Fire Science

在过去的四十年里，由于气候变化、燃料堆积和入侵物种的影响，美国西部野火的频率和严重程度都有所增加。因此，野火现在是美国西南部最常见的自然灾害类型，对人类健康和生态系统服务（包括水的可用性、能见度和娱乐）有害。利用火灾科学数据革命（HDRFS）项目旨在了解“野火连续体”，即生态系统在火灾前的状态（植物群落组成、生态、水文状态等）决定燃料积累水平的过程，从而有助于确定最终野火的条件。火灾后恢复依次为建立循环中下一次火灾的火灾前状态设置初始条件。HDRFS的研究和能力建设项目是围绕野火连续体的相互关联元素以及研究计算和数据方面的一致努力来组织的。除了研究和能力建设议程，HDRFS项目还包括一个雄心勃勃的教育和劳动力发展重点，旨在扩大内华达人在K-12和社区大学水平上的机会。HDRFS由内华达州高等教育系统与内华达大学里诺分校合作管理；拉斯维加斯的内华达大学；以及沙漠研究所。其他参与的机构包括内华达州立学院和四所社区学院（南内华达学院、特拉基梅多斯社区学院、西内华达学院和大盆地学院）。利用火灾科学数据革命（HDRFS）将探索山艾树生态系统中跨尺度相互作用的不同过程的火灾连续体。目标包括：1)在空间尺度上提高对火灾过程和影响的理解；2)确定火灾与碳循环、水平衡、燃料积累和入侵物种的相互作用；3)加深对火致土壤疏水性及其对水文影响的机理认识；4)改进火灾过程和生态水文火灾效应模型；5)改进火灾排放及其老化的表征和建模；6)使空中机器人在危险或具有挑战性的条件下（例如，表征烟羽、火灾过程和生态水文）大大改善数据收集；7)发展计算机视觉/机器学习数据融合，以处理和吸收多感官数据到火灾和生态系统模型中。HDRFS研究将有助于理解超过8个数量级的火灾过程和影响的空间尺度，目标是利用实验室和其他小尺度结果来预测和模拟大尺度的野火过程和影响。在开展研究和能力建设项目的同时，HDRFS还将通过一系列推广和劳动力发展活动吸引学生、教育工作者和从业人员，旨在使内华达州的stem人口和劳动力更加多样化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 frequency and severity of wildfires in the western U.S. has increased over the last forty years, caused by changes in climate, fuel buildup, and invasive species. As a result, wildfires are now the most prevalent type of natural disaster in the southwestern U.S. and are detrimental to human health and ecosystem services (including water availability, visibility, and recreation). The Harnessing the Data Revolution for Fire Science (HDRFS) project aims to understand the “wildland fire continuum,” the process in which an ecosystem’s pre-fire state (plant community composition, ecology, hydrological state, etc.) determines the level of fuel buildup and thereby helps determine the conditions of the eventual wildfire. Post-fire recovery in turn sets the initial condition for establishing the pre-fire state for the next fire in the cycle. The HDRFS research and capacity-building program is organized around interconnected elements of the wildland fire continuum and aligned efforts in research computing and data. Along with its research and capacity-building agenda, the HDRFS project includes an ambitious education and workforce development focus aimed at expanding opportunities for Nevadans at the K-12 and community college levels. HDRFS is administered by the Nevada System for Higher Education in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and the Desert Research Institute. Additional institutions involved include Nevada State College and four community colleges (College of Southern Nevada, Truckee Meadows Community College, Western Nevada College, and Great Basin College). Harnessing the Data Revolution for Fire Science (HDRFS) will explore the fire continuum of diverse processes interacting across scales in the sagebrush ecosystem. Goals include: 1) improving understanding of fire processes and effects over spatial scales; 2) determining fire’s interactions with carbon cycling, water balance, fuel buildup, and invasive species; 3) increasing our mechanistic understanding of fire-induced soil hydrophobicity and its influence on hydrology; 4) improving models of fire processes and eco-hydrological fire effects; 5) improving characterization and modeling of fire emissions and their aging; 6) adapting aerial robots for greatly improved data collection under hazardous or challenging conditions (e.g., characterizing smoke plumes, fire processes, and ecohydrology); and 7) developing computer vision/machine learning data fusion to process and assimilate multisensory data into fire and ecosystem models. HDRFS research will contribute to understanding the spatial scaling of fire processes and effects over ~eight orders of magnitude in area, with the goal of using laboratory and other small-scale results for predicting and modeling large scale wildland fire processes and effects. In parallel with its research and capacity-building program, HDRFS will also engage students, educators, and practitioners via a series of outreach and workforce development activities aimed at achieving a more diverse, STEM-capable population and workforce in Nevada.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.