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Scientists Developing Smart Testbed to Help Improve Access to Important Environmental Data3 min read

by Christina Procopiou on November 10, 2017

Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Sciences Department Environmental and Biological Systems Sciences Program Area GC-Microbial Engines GC-Resilient Systems Initiative

Berkeley Lab scientists are studying a watershed site near the Upper Colorado River where early snowmelt could impact how much water is available to millions of Americans who need it downstream. For now, like many other researchers studying environmental processes, this team lacks access to timely detailed data about when changes like snowmelt or rainfall might occur at remote research sites. This can make it difficult to plan on-the-ground monitoring.

Yuxin Wu, EESA research scientist, is leading an effort to establish integrated networks of multiple sensors capable of remote telemetry to help bring the data environmental scientists need to their desktops on a more timely basis. These solutions will advance new approaches to measure and connect sensors in soils and plants, and use  machine learning and advanced data analytics for interpretation. They are being designed not just to speed up the process of receiving data obtained from autonomously derived field measurements, but to ‘watch’ interactions between above- and below-ground processes as they occur. The approach of using above-and-below ground data to observe these interactions has recently been described by Baptiste Dafflon.

To improve understanding of soil-plant interactions, a SMART (Sensors at Mesoscale for Autonomous Remote Telemetry) Soils Testbed is being developed near Building 83 at Berkeley Lab. SMART Soils will be part of EcoSense, which is related to the lab’s Microbes to Biomes initiative.

 

Berkeley Lab researchers are looking for ways to improve access to and interpret data derived from autonomous advanced sensors and sensor networks to quantify biological-environmental feedbacks across scales, such as from individual plants to entire watersheds or from nanometers to meters.

Lab researchers are currently establishing advanced sensors and sensor networks to quantify biological-environmental feedbacks across scales, such as from individual plants to entire watersheds or from nanometers to meters. Under EcoSENSE, they will also develop ways to synchronize and provide virtual connections between laboratory, controlled mesoscale and field experiments. This will help research scientists gather insights about ecosystem function, translations from microbe to biome and the potential to control biome behavior.

With the SMART Soils Testbed, Wu and other scientists at Berkeley Lab will replicate a hydrogeochemical setting similar to what you’d find in terrestrial ecosystems, which could include a mountainous watershed site and agricultural field, or a contaminated region. Plans are to establish a mobile ecosystem on wheels that can be relocated if necessary. Tilted to represent the hydrological gradient, the testbed will allow Wu and others to measure the quantity and rate of evapotranspiration from plants using multiple sensors, such as load cells. Another objective is for SMART Soils to evaluate how capable sensors are at measuring not just physical properties, but also chemical and biological properties, such as the nitrate or phosphate concentration of soils.

Most important is for the SMART Soils testbed to help measure how well integrated networks of multiple autonomous sensors can gather diverse data and quantify how these various data relate to one another and enable real-time analysis by environmental scientists.

“We want to leverage advanced data analytics so scientists don’t have to look at environmental data in isolation,” Wu says. “Autonomous and telemetric sensors can measure the soil’s moisture or nutrient concentration, for example, and we can design the analytics so that a researcher can evaluate that information to understand how those measurements relate to one another. The telemetry capability is critical in providing real-time measurements that can trigger field-sampling efforts, which often times happen in very remote locations.”

Yuxin Wu is leading a workshop at Berkeley Lab related to this subject on December 1. Please contact him if you are interested in attending.

News & Events

New EESA research explores impact of land-use policy on California’s terrestrial carbon and greenhouse gas budget3 min read

January 12, 2021

The 28 million acres of natural and working lands across California provide a unique opportunity to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction goals through various land-use strategies, such as expanding urban forest areas or restoring woodlands. However, the need to mitigate wildfire severity is also a critical priority for California, and one that can increase emissions…

Impacts of Climate Change on Our Water and Energy Systems: It’s Complicated5 min read

January 11, 2021

As the planet continues to warm, the twin challenges of diminishing water supply and growing energy demand are intensifying. But because water and energy are inextricably linked, as we try to adapt to one challenge – say, by getting more water via desalination or water recycling – we may be worsening the other challenge by…

New Study: Are Drylands Getting Drier?1 min read

January 5, 2021

EESA visiting postdoctoral fellow Sha Zhou led a recent study exploring why climate models do not project drylands will become substantially drier with climate change as scientists have long believed. A paper published yesterday in the journal Nature Climate Change, “Soil moisture-atmosphere feedbacks mitigate declining water availability in drylands,” describes the importance of long-term changes…

Stunning Visuals Tell a Fluid Story of Water in the Upper Gunnison River Basin1 min read

December 23, 2020

As part of a DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI), Jeremy Snyder authored “Rocky Mountain Water: The stories of Natural, Impacted, and Managed water in the Upper Gunnison River Basin”. Using the ArcGIS StoryMaps platform and stunning visuals, the story focuses on the Colorado Upper Gunnison River Basin—home to the Watershed Function SFA’s study site, the…

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