This proposal seeks funds to create and demonstrate a prototype Environmental Information System (EIS) that couples sensor measurements with end-to-end cyberinfrastructure to improve understanding of hypoxia in Corpus Christi Bay (CC Bay), Texas. Hypoxia is a common problem in coastal waters that occurs when dissolved oxygen concentrations fall below 2 mg/L. Previous field studies indicate that hypoxia has caused about a ten-fold reduction in benthic standing stock and diversity in CC Bay. Hypoxia in the bay has been correlated with salinity-induced stratification of the bay, but causes of stratification and the spatial and temporal patterns of the hypoxia remain uncertain. An interdisciplinary team of hydrologists, environmental engineers, and biologists will collaborate to: (1) evaluate how sensor data can be used to guide adaptive sampling; (2) create improved models of hypoxia, coupling numerical hydrodynamic and oxygen models with data-mining methods; and (3) demonstrate how these information sources can be integrated into emerging cyberinfrastructure tools to create an EIS to improve understanding of hypoxia in the bay. The project is intended as a prototype demonstration on the broader use of the EIS for collaborative research and decision support. This collaborative project is one of a series of test-bed projects funded to support the development of enabling technologies for the WATERS Network, a distributed environmental observatory initiative of NSF.
