Clear Creek Environmental Hydrologic Observatory: Adaptive Sensor Network

Abstract

The CyberEnviroNet research group at The University of Iowa includes scientists and engineers from Geography, Geoscience, Computer Science, and various Engineering Departments. The group leads diverse research and education projects involving cyberinfrastructure applied to water-resource and environmental concerns. Members are active in Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) and the Collaborative Large-Scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environmental Research (CLEANER), ongoing NSF-supported initiatives. An outcome of the CyberEnviroNet group's activities is the emerging Clear Creek Environmental Hydrologic Observatory at the headwaters of Iowa's Clear Creek. It is envisioned that this process-based observatory will support the scientific investigation of relevant components of water cycle processes. This project will create a working example of cyberinfrastructure in the hydrologic and environmental sciences. It is a system that integrates a broad range of technologies and ideas: wired and wireless sensors, low power wireless communication, embedded microcontrollers, commodity cellular networks, the internet, unattended quality assurance, metadata, relational databases, machine-to-machine communication, interfaces to hydrologic and environmental models, feedback, and external inputs.