DARPA SS in NEST Project

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• Meteorology and Hydrology in Yosemite National
  Park
• A Sensor Network Application.Authors
• Jessica D Lundquist
• Daniel R Cayan
• Michael D Dettinger
• 
  Presented
  By
  Ram

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Motivation

• Snowmelt of Sierra Nevada is Californias major
  water resource.
• These rivers act as Vital Arteries in the area.
  
• Current streamflow measurements predict earlier
  snowmelt and increased global warming.
• Existing models also predict a change in the
  average rainfall in the area.
• Sparse data exist to predict and understand
  such changes.

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Introduction

• Objective
• To use sensor networks efficiently for river
  monitoring and gauging meteorological
  processes at the snowmelt dominated Sierra
  Nevada Ranges for intelligent management
  of water resources.
• To deploy a prototype sensor network at the
  Yosemite National Park to study and monitor
  such processes.

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Why Sensor Networks

• Challenges of Existing Monitoring Systems.
• Access only to lowly elevated regions while the
  major hydrological processes happen at higher
  altitudes.
• Snow accumulated at one place not a
  representative of the snow fall in the entire
  terrain region because snow occurs in patches
  of nonuniform depth and intensity.
• Satellite images are infrequent.
• Also satellite images do not help in
  understanding the actual river discharge.

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Why Sensor Networks

• Challenges of Existing Monitoring Systems.
• Data Collection in High elevation Wilderness
  areas are difficult and expensive because of
  the extra costs and logistics required to
  visit snowy sites and preserve their
  undisturbed character.
• Administrative problems limit access to these
  areas.

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Why Sensor Networks
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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park

• Easy Access to Merced and Tuolumne Rivers in
  Yosemite National Park.
• These rivers drain the western slope of the
  southern Sierra from altitudes of 1200 m to
  3700 m.
• Close to Highway 120(Tioga Road).
• Unimpaired flows
• Representative of basins throughout the Western
  United States.

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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park

• River Monitoring network started in Summer 2001.
• Twenty instruments recording hourly water level
  and temperature installed in the upper reaches
  of the rivers.
• Sensor locations selected to monitor subbasins
  with a variety of topographic conditions.
• Four water conductivity sensors deployed to
  make hourly measurements in the river basins.
• Presently 25 internally-recording
  temperature/relative humidity sensors deployed
  along Highway 120 that monitors weather systems
  and air masses sweeping across the Sierra from
  the Pacific.

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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park

• Future Installments
• Installation of webcam to view snow in
  surrounding alpine areas.
• Installation of a full snow/meteorological
  station at
• Merced Lake with GOES satellite telemetry.

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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park
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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park

• Communication Issues
• Possible communication options are satellite
  uplink, wirelessly transmitting the data to a
  cell phone network , wirelessly transmitting the
  data to an installed equipment and then using
  landline communication from there on.
• Data backup is important due to difficulty in
  geographical access.
• The SIO Development Engineer Douglas Alden is
  building a low cost , low power data logger
  that will log , record and wirelessly transmit
  data from the sensors

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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park
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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park

• Data Logger Features
• Small Battery pack.
• 32 MB of memory.
• Measurements at 3 minute intervals.

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Sensor Networking at Yosemite National Park
Thank You !