Location: Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-12630-011-025-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 1, 2014
End Date: Jul 31, 2019
Objective:
To develop prototype automated aquatic platforms for purposes of collecting water samples from different locations and/or different depths in various surface waters, and collecting data on water quality and flux.
Approach:
The Cooperator (University of Maryland Eastern Shore) will design and construct prototype self-propelled aquatic platforms and automated sampling devices to collect water samples (100 mL) from different locations or depths in lakes, ponds, rivers or streams. The platforms will carry the automatic sampling devices and will be programmable so that specific GPS coordinates can be specified for sampling locations. The Cooperator will also construct other prototype platforms that are capable of mapping the bottom of surface water sources and measuring flow velocity so as to compute water fluxes. These platforms will also have instruments to measure water parameters such as pH, temperature, oxygen concentration, etc. at predefined depths.
