FEWSim: A Visual Analytic Framework for Exploring the Nexus of Food-Energy-Water Simulations

TL;DR

FEWSim is a visual analytics framework that enables domain experts to explore and interpret complex FEW system simulations, revealing interdependencies and vulnerabilities within food, energy, and water sectors.

Contribution

The paper introduces FEWSim, a novel visual analytics framework with a three-layer architecture for exploring coupled FEW system simulations and scenario analysis.

Findings

Effective exploration of FEW simulations demonstrated in case study.

Facilitates cross-sector analysis and scenario comparison.

Supports decision-making in resource management.

Abstract

The interdependencies of food, energy, and water (FEW) systems create a nexus opportunity to explore the strengths and vulnerabilities of individual and cross-sector interactions within FEW systems. However, the variables quantifying nexus interactions are hard to observe, which hinders the cross-sector analysis. To overcome such challenges, we present FEWSim, a visual analytics framework designed to support domain experts in exploring and interpreting simulation results from a coupled FEW model. FEWSim employs a three-layer asynchronous architecture: the model layer integrates food, energy, and water models to simulate the FEW nexus; the middleware layer manages scenario configuration and execution; and the visualization layer provides interactive visual exploration of simulated time-series results across FEW sectors. The visualization layer further facilitates the exploration across multiple scenarios and evaluates scenario differences in performance using sustainability indices of the FEW nexus. We demonstrate the utility of FEWSim through a case study for the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA) in Arizona.