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LTER Site Byte
LTER Site: Hubbard Brook LTER
Contributor: John Campbell (Sep 21, 2006)
Site Byte:
The information management team at Hubbard Brook is in the process of installing a wireless sensor network for automated collection of continuous, 15-minute meteorological and stream water data from one remote watershed. The wireless network will be based around 900 MHz spread spectrum Freewave radios. The network will be complemented by a web-based data delivery system through which researchers can view graphic displays of real-time environmental data, or download archived data. In September, a 15 m repeater station was installed on a ridge between the experimental watersheds and the Forest Service headquarters to establish line-of-site radio transmission. Once the data are transmitted to the headquarters building they will be uploaded via satellite internet connection to a MySQL database.
This past summer we hired Pavel Dorovskoy, an undergraduate Computer Science major at the University of New Hampshire. Pavel was the first REU student at Hubbard Brook specializing in information management. His research project was centered on the wireless sensor network and he gave a presentation at the annual Hubbard Brook Cooperators’ meeting and will be submitting an article to the Databits newsletter.
Considerable progress has been made in redesigning the Hubbard Brook web page. In January, the Hubbard Brook’s Information Oversight Committee approved the new design of the web page. Since that time, the Hubbard Brook information management team has been converting the old web page to the new format. The new webpage will adhere to the new LTER webpage design recommendations. Some of the new features of the web page include: an image archive with an image upload feature; curriculum vitas with forms for making on-line updates; and improved methods for searching and downloading data. A draft of the new website will be completed by October 1st for review by the Information Oversight Committee. The final website will be made public before Hubbard Brook’s mid-cycle NSF review in 2007.
The Hubbard Brook sample archive was recently dedicated to Cindy Veen. Cindy Veen served as Hubbard Brook database manager from 1988 until her untimely passing in 1996. She was well-respected at the USDA Forest Service and among her peers in the LTER network. Among her many accomplishments, she was instrumental in the establishment of the Hubbard Brook sample archive and worked diligently to make it operational. In recognition of her achievements, the Hubbard Brook sample archive building was dedicated to her in July at the Annual Hubbard Brook Cooperators’ meeting. The exterior of the building now has a sign bearing Cindy’s name and there is a plaque on the inside with her picture and a description of her role in the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study.
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