CNIC: US-India Collaborative Research Linking Remote Sensing, Citizen Science, and Robotics to Address Critical Environmental Problems in Data Sparse Regions

尽管几十年来一直呼吁改善国际数据共享和环境观测，但由于缺乏数据收集、质量控制和官僚主义障碍，在世界许多地方，特别是在发展中国家，仍然无法获得关键环境数据的测量。可靠的当地环境数据对于确定环境趋势和制定适当的政策反应至关重要。本提案侧重于传统和新兴观测技术的综合，以解决卡纳塔克邦Arkavathy流域的数据短缺问题作为案例研究。这是加州大学伯克利分校（UBC）、伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校（UIUC）和班加罗尔阿育王生态与环境研究信托基金（ATREE）之间的一项新的国际合作，旨在开发新的环境数据收集技术，用于数据稀缺地区。它将把具有印度环境科学、机器人和遥感专业知识的研究人员聚集在一起，试点一个将实地测量、机器人和卫星遥感联系起来的观测系统。还将在ATREE举办一个讲习班，以制定下一步的步骤，包括构思未来提交给印度资助机构和国家科学基金会的建议。地理空间科学和机器人专业。这一建议的智力价值在于数据收集和综合方法的发展，以解决发展中国家背景下的基本环境数据差距。它将评估实现新数据收集系统的三个关键设计目标的可行性：观测的空间和时间扩展、低成本可重复测量以及确保研究人员的安全。它将确定与融合多种数据类型以一致地解释环境观测相关的关键方法挑战，以及与独立方法相关的具体挑战。它将为三个机构的研究小组提供交叉施肥：UBC的水文和遥感，UIUC的低成本传感器和移动传感器平台，以及ATREE的水可持续性，公民科学和发展项目。通过建立ATREE、UIUC和UCB现有的研究重点，研究人员将确保试点数据的初步收集与更大的项目目标和南印度的政策形成联系起来。他们将与ATREE合作，确保通过其项目门户网站和印度水数据门户网站共享收集到的数据。拟议的合作研究将直接支持两名博士生，为他们提供与国际合作伙伴建立有意义的工作关系的机会，并为他们的博士研究做出贡献。拟议的研究还将支持四名初级教员的研究目标：三名在美国，一名在印度。

Technical description Despite several decades of calls for improved international data sharing and environmental observations, measurements of critical environmental data remain unavailable in many parts of the world, especially in developing nations due to the lack of data collection, quality control, and bureaucratic obstacles. Reliable local environmental data are essential for identifying environmental trends and formulating appropriate policy responses. This proposal focuses on a synthesis of traditional and emerging observation techniques to address data scarcity in the Arkavathy Watershed, Karnataka as a case study. This is a new international collaboration among the University of California, Berkeley (UBC), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore to generate novel environmental data collection techniques for application in data scarce regions. It will bring together researchers with expertise in environmental science in India, robotics and remote sensing to pilot an observation system linking field measurements, robotics and satellite remote sensing. There will also be a workshop at ATREE to formulate next steps including conceptualizing future proposals for submission to Indian funding agencies and to NSF?s Geospatial Sciences and Robotics programs. The intellectual merit of this proposal lies in the development of data collection and synthesisapproaches that address fundamental environmental data gaps within the context of developing nations. It will evaluate the feasibility of achieving three key design goals for novel data collection systems: spatial and temporal extension of observations, low cost reproducible measurements, and ensuring researcher safety. It will identify key methodological challenges associated with fusion of multiple data types for consistent interpretation of environmental observations, as well as specific challenges associated with independent methods. It will provide cross-fertilization of research expertise across groups in three institutions: hydrology and remote sensing at UBC, low-cost sensors and mobile sensor platforms at UIUC, and water sustainability, citizen science and development projects at ATREE. Broader description By building on existing research foci held by ATREE, UIUC and UCB, the researchers will ensure that the initial collection of pilot data is linked to larger project goals, and to policy formation in south India. They will work with ATREE to ensure that collected data are shared through their project portal and the India Water Data Portal. The proposed collaborative research will directly support two PhD students by offering them the opportunity to develop meaningful working relationships with international partners and contribute to their doctoral research. The proposed research will also support the research goals of four junior faculty: three in the United States and one in India.