Project Description
The Little Bear River Test Bed, which is located near Logan, UT, is an environmental
research facility associated with Utah State University. It is one of 10 WATERS
Network test bed projects located across the United States and funded by the National
Science Foundation. These test beds focus on environmental sensors, deployment of
sensor networks, development of new modeling tools, and development of cyberinfrastructure.
This project is examining a special case of a general problem important for environmental
observatory design by developing a set of “smart” sensors connected to a central
database. The sensors collect real-time, high frequency data of easily monitored
variables (e.g. turbidity), and the control system will use that information with
a Bayesian Network to initiate intermittent sampling of more difficult to measure
constituents (e.g. phosphorus). The real-time values will be related to the wet
chemistry data and used as surrogates to quantify fluxes of interest. Specific objectives
include the estimation of fluxes from surrogate data, the relation fluxes to watershed
attributes and management practices, and the development of two way linkages between
the sensors, a central database, and models or data analysis software.
Research infrastructure in the Little Bear River test bed includes several real
time streamflow and water quality stations, four real time weather stations, a spread
spectrum radio telemetry network, and the database, software, and computer infrastructure
required to process and manage the data collected in the Little Bear River watershed.
Project Objectives
Objective 1: Data Collection and Surrogate Measures - An Integrated Monitoring System
Sensor technology currently does not exist for measuring the concentrations of many
important water quality constituents continuously and in real time. Under this objective
we are working to construct time series of estimates for constituents that we cannot
measure continuously from surrogate measurements that can be collected inexpensively
and frequently. An example is using turbidity as a surrogate measure for total suspended
solids. The following figure depics the integrated monitoring system that is being
used in the Little Bear River to satisfy this objective.
Objective 2: Assess High Frequency Nutrient Loading
Traditional monitoring approaches are generally inadequate for capturing the true
variability in constituent fluxes. This is because grab samples do not have the
temporal resolution required to represent dynamic environmental processes.
Continuous monitoring of surrogate measures with high frequency reveals variability
in streamflow and water quality at time scales that are much smaller than gaps between
traditional grab samples.
By combining high frequency surrogate measurements with low frequency grab samples
and higher frequency automated sampling of storm events, a much clearer overall
loading picture may emerge. In addition, loads can be partitioned between storm
events, spring runoff, and baseline loading.
Objective 3: Cyberinfrastructure Development
Sensor Deployment: We are deploying continuous streamflow and water quality
monitoring instrumentation at several locations within the Little Bear River watershed.
The data collected at these sites are providing the basis for the scientific analyses
being conducted.
Telemetry and Data Management: We are developing the communications and data
processing infrastructure to link the sensors and a central observations database
in real time. We are using the CUAHSI HIS Observations Data Model (ODM) as the central
repository for all of our monitoring data.
Client Application Development: We are implementing portions of the CUAHSI
Hydrologic Information System and other client applications that use the continuous
monitoring data and serve it to the public.