LTER Site Byte

LTER Site: North Temperate Lakes

Contributor: Barbara Benson, Dave Balsiger, Jonathan Chipman (Sep 15, 2006)

Site Byte:

We have continued our development in the area of sensor networks as NTL increases the number of lakes on which instrumented buoys are deployed. Currently data are flowing automatically, in near real-time, into our Oracle database from 8 buoys. We are collaborating with computer scientists from the University of California San Diego Supercomputer Center, SUNY-Binghamton, and Indiana University on automating the configuration and quality assurance components of the NTL information system for near-real time data streaming from instrumented buoys. We have created a metadata model for instrument management. Calibration previously had been done for the dissolved oxygen data in a manual process; we designed and implemented a web-interface for computer-assisted calculation of correction factors for the calibration and updating values in the database based on the correction factors. We designed and implemented a Cyberdashboard based on the GridSphere portal framework to help manage the network of instrumented lake buoys. This web-based application enables the buoy technician or data manager to quickly determine the status of the multiple remote sensors. Information regarding missing data and the automated QA/QC processing of the data is also available via the Cyberdashboard.

NTL is providing leadership in the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network. The Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (http://gleon.org) is a grassroots network of limnologists, information technology experts, and engineers who have a common goal of building a scalable, persistent network of lake ecology observatories. Data from these observatories will allow us to better understand key processes such as the effects of climate and landuse change on lake function, the role of episodic events such as typhoons in resetting lake dynamics, and carbon cycling within lakes. In March 2006, we met in Townsville, Australia for a GLEON /CREON workshop. Another workshop will be held in Hsinchu,Taiwan in October 2006. We maintain the GLEON website and are developing a database of information on lakes associated with this global network.

More social science data sets including a manure management survey and a data set on shoreline property sales were added to the NTL Oracle database and are available through the website. We have implemented a second “tier” for the information management system in order to capture data sets as text files along with their metadata when it has been decided that these data are not in high enough demand to warrant incorporation into the Oracle database but need to be permanently archived.

Ongoing spatial data management activities include development of web-based mapping systems and the addition of new data sets to the catalog. The NTL website now has three interactive map servers that provide users with the functionality to create maps using spatial data layers for our two study areas (the Madison region and the Trout Lake region in Vilas County) and for Wisconsin statewide.

Web design by Wade Sheldon, Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER