You’re invited to a Twin Ports Freshwater Folk hybrid presentation on Improving Flow and Water Quality Monitoring: Applying Sparse Sensing Methods to Environmental Systems on June 5, 2024, by Kun Zhang, assistant professor of civil engineering, who specializes in hydrology and water resources engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
The online presentation begins at noon and the in-person presentation will start at 11:30 a.m. at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Lab in Duluth, Minnesota, with free sub sandwiches and plenty of fresh water. Sadly, the zoom option is sandwich-free.
Location:
Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Lab, Ontonagon Room
6201 Congdon Blvd, Duluth, Minnesota 55804
Registration:
Event schedule:
- 11:30 a.m. Lunch and networking (in-person only)
- 12:00 p.m. Attendee announcements
- 12:05 p.m. Seminar(s)
- 12:45 p.m. Moderated question and answer session
- Adjourning by 1 p.m. at latest.
Presenter Info:
Kun Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, specializing in hydrology and water resources engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2020, and completed post-doctoral research at Marquette University. His research focuses are explaining urban hydrologic processes and supporting the design and planning of urban water infrastructure to manage stormwater through physical-based modeling and data-driven analytics.
Abstract:
Comprehensive water quality monitoring data are required to inform stormwater management decisions and watershed management strategies, but limited resources and capacity hamper the ability of state and regional agencies to collect data at adequate spatial and temporal resolution. It is not cost-effective or practical to measure numerous water quality measures across numerous aquatic ecosystems at the frequency required to protect our treasured lakes and streams. New computational algorithms, such as sparse sensing, can mine existing datasets to optimize sampling design for stream monitoring programs, thereby providing adequate monitoring data for management needs at a fraction of the cost. In this talk, some recent efforts in reconstructing streamflow and water quality (e.g., nitrate and phosphorus concentrations) time-series across watersheds using sparse sensing will be introduced. These works focused on exploring the applicability of sparse sensing on environmental signals and pursuing effective strategies to reduce the required sampling efforts. Potential applications of sparse sensing include sensor location optimization, gap filling, and making predictions, especially through integration with data fusion.
About TPFF:
Twin Ports Freshwater Folk (TPFF) is an informal gathering of people from the Twin Ports who are engaged in freshwater research, policy, or regulation issues. Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of every month and include networking, informal discussion, and a seminar.
Event sponsors:
- Minnesota Sea Grant
- Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
- Large Lakes Observatory at the University of Minnesota Duluth
- Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth
Subscribe:
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Contact:
Alex Frie, research and fellowship coordinator, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth.
Portrait of Kun Zhang. Image credit: Valerie Coit