SMARTLAGOON modeling workshop in Oslo
In March 2024, the modeling work packages convened for a two-day session in Oslo hosted by NIVA to explore the integration of socio-economic and environmental models—this effort aimed to enhance understanding of the connections between human activities and natural systems. The meeting brought together the socio-economic system dynamics (SD) model with the catchment model (SWAT) and the lagoon model (GOTM) to brainstorm strategies for integration. While socio-economic models delve into human behaviors, decision-making processes, and economic activities, environmental models simulate climate dynamics, land use changes, and ecosystem functions. Despite the challenge of creating a computational coupling, we devised alternative ways by providing boundary conditions...
Citizen Science and co-design initiatives with students to raise awareness about SMARTLAGOON and the Mar Menor
Citizen Science is a powerful tool for engaging individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills, and ages. Numerous studies have demonstrated its successful application in educational contexts, raising awareness about specific topics and involving students in serious discussions. In this context, we utilized Citizen Science as an educational tool for teenagers. Specifically, we conducted two activities in May 2023, engaging two classes (33 + 19 students) from a high school near Murcia (CEIP San Vicente de Paul, in El Palmar). The students were 15-16 years old, and each session lasted two hours, covering: An introduction to SMARTLAGOON and the issues surrounding Mar Menor. An overview of the...
Validation of the hydrographic model of the SMARTLAGOON project in a riverbed in the Campo de Cartagena
Currently, the accurate measurement of the variables necessary for hydrological modeling faces the challenge of costly models and sensors. This problem is aggravated in basins with high water stress where monitoring is more complex. Such is the case of Campo de Cartagena, characterized by ephemeral streams and average annual rainfall of less than 300 mm. To address this situation, we implemented an innovative methodology that combines citizen science, through a mobile application that is able to obtain flow rates from recordings taken by citizens at specific control points; in addition to low-cost high-tech sensors capable of measuring the height of the water sheet, thanks to...
Coupled modelling of watersheds and water bodies – from global scale to Mar Menor
We may not always realise it, but our lives are surrounded by models. If we define a model as a “representation of something”, we can see a map as a model of real-world topography - helping us to navigate -, or a mannequin in a shop as a model of our bodies - so we can better visualise how we would look in certain clothes. Models can also be numerical: a weather forecast model tells us (not always accurately) if it is going to rain tomorrow. But also bus tables, city infrastructure, airplane design, and so many more things, are partially the product of...
BODOQUE: An Energy-Efficient Flow Monitoring System for Ephemeral Streams
Effective environmental monitoring is crucial for managing global environmental challenges and providing the necessary data for Environmental Intelligence (EI). This discipline involves the integration of data from various sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of specific regions or processes. In this post, we introduce BODOQUE, a hardware-software infrastructure to monitor water flows in ephemeral streams where the water rarely flows with great force. BODOQUE uses a low-power TinyML-based camera to detect the presence of water, activating a more complex system to measure flow only when the water flows, thereby optimizing energy consumption. This device is being deployed in the Segura basin, Murcia, Spain. This...
Image-based turbidity measurements
The objective of the SMARTLAGOON project is to develop a digital twin of the Mar Menor and its entire watershed. It is intended to give real-time insights of the state of the Mar Menor, and also forecast the risk of hypoxia in the short-term future. The digital twin integrates water quantity and quality models and real-time sensor data. Regarding the real-time sensors, at SMARTLAGOON photrack is developing methods to measure turbidity via images. Water clarity can be used as in indicator for water quality assessment, its spatio-temporal monitoring is important for water management, and environmental protection of aquatic ecosystems. There are available sensors which can measure...
Satellite Imagery Approach in the H2020 SMARTLAGOON Project
Are you familiar with the products of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Copernicus programme? We are using both Sentinel-3 (S3) and Sentinel-2 (S2) in SMARTLAGOON because we are interested in using the almost daily remotely sensed water quality data to calibrate our Mar Menor lagoon model, which is provided by S3, but unfortunately at a very low resolution - i.e. 300 m pixels. We realised that in such a context, in a shallow water lagoon, there is a clear relationship between aerial images - such as those provided by S2 every 5-10 days and with a resolution of up to 10 m pixels - and...
Into the Depths: Exploring Mar Menor’s Virtual Counterpart
In 2019, a massive fish kill was reported from the iconic Mar Menor – likely a result of prolonged water column stratification and a long period of hypoxia (low oxygen levels) in large parts of the lagoon. Stratification, where the water column "divide" into distinct layers of density due to different temperatures or salinity, can oftentimes result in low or even completely depleted oxygen levels near the bottom. Even if these stratification events are short-lived (e.g. a few days or less), as is typical in shallow systems, such as Mar Menor, this can still be enough to cause low oxygen levels near the bottom....
SMARTLAGOON at the 2023 Denmark SWAT Conference
From June 26th to 30th, our researchers of the European project SMARTLAGOON attended the 2023 Denmark SWAT Conference. This congress held at the Aarhus University had a massive participation with more than 170 participants from 41 different countries. Under the titles "Developing a high-resolution global digital soil map for enhanced hydrological modelling with the SWAT+ model" and "Evaluating the hydrological performance of three global digital soil maps using SWAT+" the researchers Adrián López-Ballesteros and Gerardo Castellanos-Osorio presented the results obtained in the paper "DSOLMap, a novel high-resolution global digital soil property map for the SWAT + model: Development and hydrological evaluation". This research details how...
Unveiling the Complexity: Recap of SMARTLAGOON’s second participatory system dynamics modeling workshops.
In May's second week, SMARTLAGOON successfully conducted the second series of participatory systems dynamics modeling workshops. The week proved to be highly productive and engaging, yielding important insights. The results are being analyzed and will serve as a foundation for upcoming participatory activities scheduled for autumn 2023. SMARTLAGOON is an interdisciplinary project addressing environmental, economic, and social challenges in Spain's Mar Menor Lagoon and Campo de Cartagena watershed. WP4 focuses on participatory system dynamics modeling to build a systematic understanding of the region's socio-ecological and socio-economic dimensions. The project involves workshops to explore stakeholders’ perspectives from various sectors, including environmental, agriculture, fishing, tourism, regional government,...
SMARTLAGOON science exchange seminar
---> Artículo en español disponible aquí! On Monday May 08, from 09:00 – 15:30 o'clock, the SMARTLAGOON project team invites you to a scientific exchange seminar, which is open for researchers, but also anyone else who is interested in research done related to the Mar Menor. During the morning, results from the SMARTLAGOON project will be presented, while, in the afternoon, researchers from other organisations will be invited to present their research. The seminar closes with a discussion about the possibility to cooperate. Location: UCAM HiTech, Sport & Health Innovation Hub, Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/uixuWqabDXyZhBtv6 Please find below the final program. 9.00-10.00 Registration 10.00-10.30 Official welcome and Introduction about the SMARTLAGOON project - Estrella...
Unravelling the complexity of the Mar Menor system through participatory system dynamics modelling
During the last week of February and beginning of March SMARTLAGOON carried out the first set of workshops of the participatory systems dynamics modelling in the project. It was an intensive and fruitful week, and the results are being processed and will lay the ground for the follow-up participatory activities in May. SMARTLAGOON is an interdisciplinary project that aims to develop sustainable solutions for the environmental, economic, and social challenges facing the Mar Menor lagoon and the Campo de Cartagena watershed in Spain. The project comprises several work packages (WP), with WP4 focusing on participatory systems dynamics modelling of the socio-ecological and socio-economic dimensions of...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Dear Community, we, the SMARTLAGOON team, would like to take advantage of our newsletter to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2023! May the melody and spirit of the holidays fill your home with love and peace. We would like also to thank you for believing in our project! We are sure we will achieve very relevant results during next year, for the best and sustainability of Mar Menor! To stay updated, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter! ...
Deployment of the SMARTLAGOON oceanographic buoy in the Mar Menor
Last Friday 14th October 2022 was a relevant milestone for our project and we wanted to share with you our experience and first impressions after more than one month of operation. The SMARTLAGOON buoy electronics were designed, tested and developed by our partners from the Department of Ecology, Genetics and Limnology at Uppsala University in Lake Erken (Sweden). High-frequency monitoring activities have been carried out on this lake since the 1980s-90s, led by Dr. Don Pierson. In fact, since 1940, Lake Erken has served as a field station for research and teaching activities for researchers and students of Uppsala University (USA), becoming a limnology laboratory...
Despliegue de la boya oceanográfica de SMARTLAGOON en el Mar Menor
[For the English version -> LINK] El pasado viernes 14 de octubre de 2022 fue un hito relevante para nuestro proyecto y queríamos compartir con vosotros nuestra experiencia y primeras impresiones después de más de un mes de funcionamiento. La electrónica de la boya de SMARTLAGOON fue diseñada, testeada y desarrollada por nuestros socios del Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Limnología de Uppsala University en el Lago Erken (Suecia). En este lago se desarrollan actividades de monitorización de alta frecuencia desde los años 80-90, lideradas por el Dr. Don Pierson. De hecho, desde 1940 el lago Erken ha servido como estación de campo para desarrollar actividades...
SMARTLAGOON represented at scientific meetings: DSOS and SIL
In July and August 2022, Jorrit Mesman represented SMARTLAGOON at two scientific events; the virtual DSOS (Data Science Open Science) Summit and the SIL (International Society of Limnology) conference in Berlin, Germany. Our project is composed of scientific knowledge and expertise that has been built-up over the past decades, but SMARTLAGOON also generates new knowledge that may benefit the larger scientific community, and therefore it is good to occasionally share this knowledge at scientific meetings. Moreover, by listening to and interacting with other scientists, new insights may be gained that can further help to achieve SMARTLAGOON’s goals. DSOS is a virtual event that intends to...
Intelligent environmental infrastructure
To collect real-time data about the lagoon, we are deploying an intelligent environmental infrastructure made of sensors and cam-eras. An intelligent environmental infrastructure can be defined as the use of smart sensors and IoT to connect and transmit data about the environment in real-time, exploiting intelligent algorithms and protocols. We will use a smart buoy to collect data related to the lagoon water conditions and a platform for accurate volumetric flow measurements inrivers and canals. In this last case, the AI algorithm runs on a cloud base infrastructure, allowing to send data stream both fromcameras installed in fixed locations and, exploiting citizen science, from smartphones...
Our Citizen Science initiatives
Accordingly with Public participation plan, during the first year and a half of the project, we organized some activities to engage citizens, to understand their point of view and increase their awareness about our project and look at Mar Menor issues through scientific eyes. In particular, we engaged three citizens' group targets: i) children; ii) environmental NGO members; iii) people involved in water management. Children as citizen scientists In October 2021, we organized a citizen science session engaging two classes of the ``Felix Rodriguez de La Fuente" primary school in “Los Nietos” (Mar Menor). In particular, 23 children (12 girls and 11 boys) in the age range...
A citizens’ platform to help measure the waters of Mar Menor
A few weeks ago, researchers from the SMARTLAGOON project, led by the UCAM, trained the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura and the Directorate General of the Mar Menor to learn about our app for measuring flow rates from images. The Catholic University of Murcia meets with Photrack, a partner of the project, to explain the use of Discharge APP to the workers of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura and the General Directorate of the Mar Menor. This algorithm, patented in Switzerland, obtains the velocity profile on the surface of the body of water, using an image measurement method through the movement of pixels. This application, which...
Thanks all showing an interest in the SMARTLAGOON project
We would like to thank all showing an interest in the SMARTLAGOON project; a research and innovation project funded by the European Union under the call "Environmental Intelligence", H2020-EU.1.2.2. Grant agreement ID: 101017861, which aims to create a digital twin of the Mar Menor (Murcia, Spain)....
Welcome to SmartLagoon
We are happy to show the first release of the SmartLagoon.eu website....