With 50% of the U.S. population living within 100 km of the coast, human populations significantly impacting coastal zones (e.g., eutrophication), and coastal environments significantly impacting human activities (e.g., Hurricane Katrina), there is a critical need for smart coastal environmental sensor networks to support planning, sustainable coastal development, effective coastal hazard warning and mitigation, and appropriate public use of coastal resources.  The Boston Environmental Area Coastal Observation Network (BEACON) research project is creating an integrated environmental sensor network testbed in Boston Harbor that includes novel sensor development (e.g., bacterial water quality, coastal inundation), optimized sensor networking (e.g., telemetry, power, bandwidth), predictive modeling (e.g., circulation, GIS), and cyber-infrastructure (e.g., data management, standards, visualization).  The sensor network testbed to be developed crosses steep gradients from urban to rural, land to ocean, and natural to developed environments.  Specific objectives for this research project include:  (a) developing “smart” sensor networks for observing complex interactions of coastal systems including “hotspots and hot moments,” in the Neponset River Watershed, Neponset Estuary, and Boston Harbor; (b) developing discrete and agent-based models to rapidly analyze and visualize complex and non-continuous datastreams; and (c) developing and test new environmental sensors and evaluating the potential to transfer the sensor network technology to commercial markets.
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Over the last several years, the Charles River Basin has been 80-90% swimmable and fishable during the warm season (May to October). However, the river has not been used for swimming to any appreciable extent, due to a lack of accurate and trusted predictions of the bacterial water quality. We have installed an environmental data monitoring station in the Charles River near Community Boating, which will automatically feed data to an online water quality forecasting system developed by the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA). This data station measures water temperature, air temperature, rainfall, and wind speed (among other data), and the data is incorporated in a regression model that is used by CRWA to generate predictions of e.coli bacteria concentrations in the Charles River basin. CRWA has developed a system of blue and red flags, designating whether or not the water presents a health risk for boaters. The goal of this project is to automate this system so that it runs 7-days per week and is based on local data from the basin.
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Real-time cameras are being increasingly used for scientific study, but they have yet to be proven for shoreline erosion and wave dynamics. Thompson Island in Boston Harbor is the perfect testing ground for camera-based erosion studies. It is close to Boston, it has geologically dynamic shorelines, and learnings gained there are very relevant for the management of the Boston metropolitan coastal zone. In this project, we installed two cameras along the shoreline of Thompson Island, focused on locations of known erosion or beach movement. One camera is studying a 20-foot bluff that is undergoing rapid erosion. There are theories that this erosion is caused by boat wakes, and the camera will help clarify the causes. A second camera is focused on a sand spit that extends into a tidal pond. The spit moves with the tides, and the camera will help identify which weather types affect the movement the most.
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