Wireless sensing technologies for environmental monitoring

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To fully understand the carbon cycle, we need accurate measurements of forest phenology (seasonal activity) - the central goal of this study. This proposal seeks support to build a testbed for a forest phenology monitoring system, based on the design of existing networks (TROPI-DRY, SpecNet, and FLUXNET Canada). Such a testbed does not exist at this time in Canada or in the tropics since much of the current work is conducted within short term field campaigns in temperate environments. The specific objectives of the proposed work will be to build a phenology monitoring system that will enable detailed monitoring of the radiation environment above and below the forest canopy as well as to accurately estimate radiation transmitted through the canopy, and absorbed by the canopy (APAR). This will allow the capture of detailed information regarding the periods of leaf flushing, photosynthetic activity, and leaf fall at multiple spatial scales, and can improve estimates of forest Net Primary Productivity (NPP). The successful demonstration of this technology in boreal and tropical environments will provide a strong foundation for the development of a forest phenology monitoring network, using existing networks (SpecNet, FLUXNET Canada and TROPI-DRY).This phenology monitoring system will comprise four components: 1) a mobile radiation sensor mounted on a mobile "tram system", 2) a tower based micro-meteorological and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), 3) a wireless sensors network measuring radiation, temperature, soil moisture and relative humidity and 4) a processing workstation cluster. Together, these components will enable accurate monitoring of forest radiation absorption (APAR) a critical variable in forest carbon exchange models and sensitive indicator of forest responses to perturbations.