Development and implementation of wireless environmental sensor network for measuring fluid and water quality fluxes in watersheds

This research is motivated by the need to develop low cost, wireless, environmental sensor networks for monitoring hydraulic and water quality variables in streams and watersheds. Salamander is the Serial Amphibious Linear Arrays of Micro and Nano Devices for Environmental Research, and the tool provides a versatile instrumentation platform for deploying hydraulics and water quality sensors within stream networks. The Salamander is designed to collect and transmit a variety of hydraulics and water quality data using inexpensive sensors and wireless technologies. We outfit Salamander for estimating sediment flux at cross-sections in a stream using inexpensive velocity bend sensors, light attenuation sediment sensors, and temperature and pressure sensors. The field site chosen for testing the sensor network is at the confluence of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd streams to gain a better understanding of the effect of spatial scales on sediment transport within the watershed. Downstream of the confluences the hydrograph and sedigraph are approximately the linear addition of the upstream tributaries. Wireless data transmission from the Salamanders to the data storage location was successful, and ongoing research is underway to model the data within the cyberinfrastructure created by the Virtual Observatory and Ecological Information System. The results of this work show that the inexpensive Salamander network can be quickly deployed in the field to monitor hydrologic events of interest to the researcher. Intelligent features are currently being designed and implemented to approximate the velocity and sediment distribution and thereafter compute sediment flux for the cross-section while performing calculations on parameter gradients to check for erroneous data.