Development and application of network of geosensors for environmental monitoring

• Grant number: 09/53154-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2009
• End date: May 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Agreement: Microsoft Research
• Principal Investigator: Celso von Randow
• Grantee: Celso von Randow
• Host Institution: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project proposes activities of research and technological development to test the use of a prototype of environmental sensors (geosensors) in a study site of tropical forest in Amazonia, Brazil, forming a sensor network with high spatial resolution, and to develop software tools for data quality control and integration. The main premise is that the geosensors should have relatively low cost, what enables the formation of monitoring networks with a large number of sensors spatially distributed. The project is composed of three main components: 1) assembly and calibration of prototypes of geosensors of air temperature and humidity, with reproductive and reliable ceramic sensor elements that will adequately operate under the environmental conditions observed in the tropics; 2) development of software tools for management, quality control, visualization and integration of data collected in geosensor networks; and 3) realization of an experimental campaign, with the installation of the sensors in the Amazonian forest, with the objective of estimating the spatial variability of temperature and humidity complementing a flux tower in a complex terrain, to better describe the properties of the air flow and horizontal advection within and above the canopy near the tower. (AU)