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

珊瑚礁养活了全世界近10亿人，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以及缺乏应对21世纪挑战所需的数据和工具的普遍获取的威胁。数字珊瑚礁利用数字孪生技术、游戏引擎平台和云分析来改变人类获取、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。数字珊瑚礁提供了每个珊瑚礁生态系统的直观、身临其境的4维可视化，以及一套受用户启发的交互式工具，使世界各地的数百万利益相关者能够在快速变化的海洋中使用最有效的决策工具。在5年内，扩展到全球互联数字珊瑚礁网络的数字珊瑚礁将成为21世纪有效管理、保护和恢复珊瑚礁以及交流和分享数据、知识和经验的首选工具。最终，数字珊瑚礁技术框架将为数字孪生技术在海洋范围内的扩展提供蓝图。珊瑚礁生态系统仅占不到1%的海洋表面，在全球经济中扮演着不成比例的重要角色，估计年价值为1万亿美元。在美国，400万英亩的珊瑚礁支持数十万个就业机会，并保护包括战略军事基础设施在内的大片沿海财产。然而，珊瑚礁蓝经济的可持续增长受到前所未有的气候变化的威胁，而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世纪数字双胞胎技术建立实际珊瑚礁生态系统的数字复制品，通过从物理珊瑚礁传输的传感器和卫星数据近实时地持续更新。数字珊瑚礁平台使用可视化软件和游戏引擎来创建每个珊瑚礁的直观、身临其境的交互式4-D可视化，并通过易于导航的用户界面创建一套受用户启发的决策工具。我们的Palmyra Atoll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(3-D珊瑚礁水深、温度、洋流、海底群落和随时间变化)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。模块化的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，轻松整合额外的数据和工具。应用游戏引擎利用科学数据创造身临其境的虚拟现实体验，将把活生生的珊瑚礁生态系统带到家庭、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。

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.