The Jefferson Project at Lake George, an ambitious research project designed to learn more about the lake to aid in conservation efforts, has been monitoring IoT, Big Data and analytics technology to manage and protect the body of fresh water. In an announcement made on June 29, the Jefferson Project said it is entering a new phase in which enormous amounts of data will be captured from new environmental sensors and analyzed.
Scientists anticipate that insights uncovered from the data collection and discovery stage of the project will not only help manage and protect one of America's most famous lakes, but allow conservation scientists to take what they learn and create a blueprint to preserve other lakes, rivers and other bodies of fresh water around the world.
The collected data, researchers believe, will help interested parties to more accurately predict how weather, contaminants, invasive species and other threats might affect a lake's natural environment. Armed with these new insights and a growing body of best practices, corrective actions could be taken in advance to protect fresh water sources anywhere in the world.
“The Jefferson Project provides the unique opportunity for biologists and environmental scientists to work closely with engineers, physicists, computer scientists and meteorologists to understand large lakes at a level of detail and intensity that is simply unprecedented,” said Rick Relyea, director, Jefferson Project at Lake George. “Together, we will make tremendous inroads into understanding how lakes naturally behave and how human activities alter biodiversity, the functioning of freshwater ecosystems, and overall water quality.”
Image via Shutterstock The Jefferson Project is a collaboration between IBM Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and The FUND for Lake George. It involves more than 60 scientists from around the world and IBM Research labs in Brazil, Ireland, Texas and New York.
The new phase of the project is the culmination of several milestones. So far, the Project has deployed an array of sophisticated sensors of different shapes and sizes, including underwater sonar based sensors; customized software programs and solar energy systems to power off-grid equipment. These enhancements have led to greatly improved measurement data that will be used to better understand the lake and lead to improvements in the accuracy of four predictive models built by IBM researchers that precisely measure weather events, water run-off from the surrounding mountains into the lake, inputs of road salt to the lake, and water circulation.
“The world's important bodies of fresh water such as Lake George are precious to people, essential to life and drive the economy, but they're under siege from a growing list of threats,” said Harry Kolar, Distinguished Engineer, IBM; and Associate Director, Jefferson Project. “The key to protecting this precious natural resource lies in the data, and the stage is now set to discover a deluge of insights about the delicate ecology of the lake and the factors that threaten it. The results of our efforts will help drive new ways to protect bodies of fresh water around the world.”
The work of the Jefferson Project builds on the findings from “The State of the Lake: Thirty Years of Water Quality Monitoring on Lake George, New York, 1980-2009,” a study released in 2014 by Rensselaer and The FUND for Lake George.
Delving deep into real-world research, with real benefits for consumers is a prime example of the way that the IoT is important and should be invested in. To make the connections that you can use to further your research, or to get involved with new and ongoing studies, join us at IoT Evolution Expo August 17 to 20.
