Development of a proof-of-concept geoelectric monitoring system for advancing research and education in hydrogeophysics at Boise State University

地下水是我们社会和生态系统的宝贵资源。了解气候变化和人类活动如何影响地下水的储存、年龄、质量和流动路线至关重要。地电学方法是研究这些水文问题的重要地球物理手段，它既可以利用自然电流，也可以利用有源电源。它能够有效地确定地下水的分布及其运动，对现场条件的干扰最小。该奖项将通过开发用于地下水相关研究和教育的下一代地电仪器来支持科学基础设施。该奖项还将有助于拓宽博伊西州立大学本科生对水文和地球物理研究的参与。该概念验证项目将通过将传统水文测量集成到地电场测试中来开发一种新的水文地球物理仪器。新设计的水文地球物理探测器将在实验室通过将Ag-AgCl电极集成到传统的张力计中来制造。这些开发的探头可以同时测量土壤张力（基质吸力）和电气性能（电阻率，激发极化，动电位）时，他们被集成到一个传统的地电采集仪器。在这个项目中，实验室实验计划测量的主要特性的探头，如漂移和温度系数，并计划在一个土坑的融雪入渗过程的现场测试监测。实地监测将在爱达荷州博伊西附近的干溪实验流域的一个小集水区的山脊上进行。将对监测到的水力和地电数据进行联合分析，以评价综合水文地球物理仪器在实地条件下的性能。该奖项得到了激励竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）办公室的共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Groundwater is a valuable resource for our society and the ecosystem. It is critical to understand how climate change and human activities affect the storage, age, quality, and the flow route of groundwater. Geoelectrical methods, which use either natural electric current or active electric sources, are important geophysical tools for studying these hydrological problems. It enables an effective determination of the water distribution and their movement in the subsurface with minimal disturbances to the field condition. This award will support scientific infrastructure by developing the next-generation geoelectrical instrumentation for groundwater-related studies and education. This award will also help broaden the participation of undergraduate students in hydrological and geophysical research at Boise State University.This proof of concept project will develop a new hydrogeophysical instrument by integrating traditional hydrological measurement into geoelectrical field tests. Newly designed hydrogeophysical probes will be fabricated in the laboratory by integrating Ag-AgCl electrodes into traditional tensiometers. These developed probes can simultaneously measure the soil tension (matric suction) and electrical properties (resistivity, induced polarization, and electrokinetic potential) when they are integrated into a traditional geoelectrical acquisition instrument. In this project, laboratory experiments are planned to measure the main characteristics of the probes such as drifting and temperature coefficient, and a field test is planned to monitor the snowmelt infiltration process in a soil pit. The field monitoring will be conducted at a mountain ridge in a small catchment of the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise, Idaho. The monitored hydraulic and geoelectrical data will be jointly analyzed to evaluate the performance of the integrated hydrogeophysical instrument at field conditions. This award received co-funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) office.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.