Field Sites
Crowden Great Brook, Peak District, Derbyshire
At the Crowden Great Brook site shown (during April) on the right we are testing a multihop radio system designed to get real-time alarm information from the stream to the GSM equipped Basestation (box below with two antennae) sited on a nearby hilltop (where signal is available).
Sometime during 2008 we will be deploying a network of around 20 nodes monitoring soil moisture, rainfall and stream water quality, on four, 1 km transects in this valley (directly up-slope from stream to peak). We hope to learn more about rainfall patchiness, and the local interactions between rain, soil saturation and stream content.
The lowest sensor (near the stream) is shown below (right hand image) and a view downstream from the sensor site is on the right. All the visible boulders are moved downstream when there is a flash flood at this site (every few years). One flood 10 years ago filled a small reservoir at the base of the valley, and buried all the instrumentation deployed along the stream by our collaborator Steve Boult (University of Manchester).
If our network is successful we should be able to generate alarms about potential flash flood events using rule based AI routines embedded in the network, in addition to more regular alarms for sensor malfunction, and water quality. Data recovery will use a mobile wireless reading device carried by investigators during site visits.
We are also planning to deploy some camera traps, to monitor mammal activity in the area (and also at the CEH site at Moor House). This will help us understand the impact of the sheep (and other mammals that visit the site).
A long term ambition is to use the same kit at a site in Australia as part of our collaborations with the ARC ISSNIP network.
Hazelrigg field station
We do our initial testing of new devices and software at The Hazelrigg field centre, near the University. The weather station shown here is programmed to send Hai (on the right) a text message when it rains, and will respond to text messages containing simple commands. The solar panel is necessary to keep the GSM modem working. This photo was taken in August.
TUV NEL Myres Hill
We also use the TUV NEL site at Myres Hill (near East Kilbride) for early testing. This is a national building materials weather resistance test site and offers more extreme conditions than Hazelrigg, but is more awkward to get to. The picture was taken during a short break in the horizontal rain on a December afternoon. Despite problems with rain and low signal level, GSM is more reliable than the land line for remote access to the observations.
