Lacawac’s environmental monitoring network currently includes two stations. All information obtained from these stations is compiled and automatically collected by Lacawac every fifteen minutes since 1992.
Aerial view of the sensor platform on Lake Lacawac
Ecological Sensors at Lacawac
ARTHUR (Aquatic Resource for High-Frequency Underwater Research)
Monitoring the environment is important because it is essentially our home. It is where we breathe, eat, and sleep; everything we produce or use ultimately comes from it. It has become well known that the growing human population of the world can cause negative impacts to the environment. Today, environmental protection is highly valued and laws are made to specify acceptable levels of pollutant concentrations discharged to the soil, water, and air from our activities.
To assess environmental health, researchers and professionals have been monitoring different ecological parameters for many decades. This is done to better understand natural processes, cycles, and changes that take place over longer periods of time. On the other hand, some ecological events can happen on a much shorter timescales. These events are studied so current practices can be stopped if major impacts to environmental health are identified soon enough.
One problem with measuring short ecological events is that they can be unpredictable and sporadic. Another problem is that ecological monitoring has traditionally been based on infrequent sample collection and time consuming sample analysis. Due to both of these facts, studying short ecological events can be difficult using conventional monitoring methods.
Wireless sensors are increasingly being used for ecological monitoring because they can measure a large range of both land and water ecological parameters. Additionally, they can collect data at a high frequency, providing scientists with on the minute time scale. These sensors are becoming smarter, smaller, power efficient, less expensive, and more sophisticated as this technology advances. Wireless sensors can allow researchers to study sporadic events and give professionals sufficient time to take action when contaminants are detected in a particular area.
Lake Lacawac has been monitored since 1992 by Lehigh University and the data being collected by the sensors are available to scientists worldwide. This can contribute towards regional, national and international monitoring networks that detect global trends in lakes. In fact, Lacawac Sanctuary belongs to the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON). GLEON uses data collected at Lacawac, along with data from other lakes throughout the world to predict lake ecological trends. Recently, data collected here was used to analyze lake ecosystem impacts after Tropical Cyclone Irene hit the East Coast.
Lacawac Sanctuary has been actively involved with many different types of sensor technologies. Novel sensors have been tested at Lacawac in the past to measure different geological, hydrological, climatic, and ecological parameters. For example, Lake Lacawac was used to test a modern profiling buoy platform equipped with sensors measuring fifteen different parameters.
Wireless sensors are a futuristic way to monitor the environment and are being used more frequently with the improvement of sensors. This cutting-edge technology demonstrates the advancement of the new wave in scientific technology. Hopefully now visitors of Lacawac Sanctuary can enjoy, appreciate, and understand the usefulness of ecological monitoring here and throughout the world!
ARTHUR (Aquatic Resource for High-Frequency Underwater Research) is a profiling buoy that has been deployed on Lake Lacawac during the ice-free season since 2011. The profiling buoy collects data on a number of different water quality parameters using sensors that measure water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, water color, sediment run-off and algae in the lake, as well as many others. The sensors are lowered automatically by 1-m increments,where readings are taken down to a depth of 10 m (~30 ft). The buoy completes a full profile to the bottom of the lake every 6 hours. In addition, there is a weather station on top of the buoy collecting air temperature, wind speed, and rainfall data. Thedata are sent by way of a radio antenna to a computer on shore that then allows it to be displayed online.
Lake Lacawac is an ideal place to deploy a profiling buoy because of the long history of water quality data and the undisturbed nature of the lake. As one of
a few lakes with a completely protected watershed, it allows scientists to examine climate change effects on water quality without the confounding factors of human influence. We are currently using data from the profiling buoy to monitor how climate change affects water temperature, clarity, and dissolved oxygen levels in Lake Lacawac. The increase of major storm events like hurricanes is having a dramatic impact on lake color with increasing amounts of sediment run-off entering the lake during heavy rain periods. Decreases in water clarity decrease the amount of light available, and significantly alter the suitable habitat for aquatic organisms, which can change the dynamics of theentire aquatic food web. These changes to the lake ecosystem will be important to document over time. As a recent member of the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), Lake Lacawac will become an important hub for cutting edge research and education.
To view live data from ARTHUR visit: https://wqdatalive.com/public/272
To assess environmental health, researchers and professionals have been monitoring different ecological parameters for many decades. This is done to better understand natural processes, cycles, and changes that take place over longer periods of time. On the other hand, some ecological events can happen on a much shorter timescales. These events are studied so current practices can be stopped if major impacts to environmental health are identified soon enough.
One problem with measuring short ecological events is that they can be unpredictable and sporadic. Another problem is that ecological monitoring has traditionally been based on infrequent sample collection and time consuming sample analysis. Due to both of these facts, studying short ecological events can be difficult using conventional monitoring methods.
Wireless sensors are increasingly being used for ecological monitoring because they can measure a large range of both land and water ecological parameters. Additionally, they can collect data at a high frequency, providing scientists with on the minute time scale. These sensors are becoming smarter, smaller, power efficient, less expensive, and more sophisticated as this technology advances. Wireless sensors can allow researchers to study sporadic events and give professionals sufficient time to take action when contaminants are detected in a particular area.
Lake Lacawac has been monitored since 1992 by Lehigh University and the data being collected by the sensors are available to scientists worldwide. This can contribute towards regional, national and international monitoring networks that detect global trends in lakes. In fact, Lacawac Sanctuary belongs to the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON). GLEON uses data collected at Lacawac, along with data from other lakes throughout the world to predict lake ecological trends. Recently, data collected here was used to analyze lake ecosystem impacts after Tropical Cyclone Irene hit the East Coast.
Lacawac Sanctuary has been actively involved with many different types of sensor technologies. Novel sensors have been tested at Lacawac in the past to measure different geological, hydrological, climatic, and ecological parameters. For example, Lake Lacawac was used to test a modern profiling buoy platform equipped with sensors measuring fifteen different parameters.
Wireless sensors are a futuristic way to monitor the environment and are being used more frequently with the improvement of sensors. This cutting-edge technology demonstrates the advancement of the new wave in scientific technology. Hopefully now visitors of Lacawac Sanctuary can enjoy, appreciate, and understand the usefulness of ecological monitoring here and throughout the world!
ARTHUR (Aquatic Resource for High-Frequency Underwater Research) is a profiling buoy that has been deployed on Lake Lacawac during the ice-free season since 2011. The profiling buoy collects data on a number of different water quality parameters using sensors that measure water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, water color, sediment run-off and algae in the lake, as well as many others. The sensors are lowered automatically by 1-m increments,where readings are taken down to a depth of 10 m (~30 ft). The buoy completes a full profile to the bottom of the lake every 6 hours. In addition, there is a weather station on top of the buoy collecting air temperature, wind speed, and rainfall data. Thedata are sent by way of a radio antenna to a computer on shore that then allows it to be displayed online.
Lake Lacawac is an ideal place to deploy a profiling buoy because of the long history of water quality data and the undisturbed nature of the lake. As one of
a few lakes with a completely protected watershed, it allows scientists to examine climate change effects on water quality without the confounding factors of human influence. We are currently using data from the profiling buoy to monitor how climate change affects water temperature, clarity, and dissolved oxygen levels in Lake Lacawac. The increase of major storm events like hurricanes is having a dramatic impact on lake color with increasing amounts of sediment run-off entering the lake during heavy rain periods. Decreases in water clarity decrease the amount of light available, and significantly alter the suitable habitat for aquatic organisms, which can change the dynamics of theentire aquatic food web. These changes to the lake ecosystem will be important to document over time. As a recent member of the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), Lake Lacawac will become an important hub for cutting edge research and education.
To view live data from ARTHUR visit: https://wqdatalive.com/public/272
