Smart sensor networks for flood and drought resilience

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Floods and droughts are among the world's most devastating natural hazards, claiming thousands of lives each year. Global climate change is intensifying extreme weather events. In combination with other human activities such as land-use change, this will lead to an increase in the severity and societal impact of floods and droughts in many parts of the world.Hydrological monitoring is essential to develop robust systems for early warning, build preparedness, and reduce human exposure to floods and droughts. However, measuring the hydrological processes that determine flood and drought hazard is still fraught with technical and scientific challenges. This is especially the case in the Global South, where hydrometeorological monitoring networks are sparse and often under-resourced. Yet these regions often host the populations that are most vulnerable and most exposed to hydrological extremes.This PhD project will develop the next generation of sensing technologies to support flood and drought management and resilience building. The project will leverage Imperial's world-leading expertise on technological innovation in environmental sensing. Our Hydrology and Water Resources Laboratory has designed, assembled, and deployed over 300 sensors all over the world, from Andean glaciers and mountain wetlands to groundwater wells in Somalia and the Philippines. The current project will focus on developing and testing novel technologies to measure water fluxes and water quality, with a specific focus on near real-time data transmission, proxy sensing, and smart and adaptive sensing algorithms. The project will be implemented in close collaboration with the UK Flood and Drought Research Infrastructure. FDRI is a one-of-a-lifetime UK-wide investment in novel infrastructure for flood and drought research, implemented by a delivery team led by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH), with Imperial as an executive partner. It will create a unique research and innovation platform for the PhD project, and opportunity for research collaboration and impact creation.