Miao Yu to develop cost-effective sensor for measuring lake health

Miao Yu to develop cost-effective sensor for measuring lake health

Miao Yu to develop cost-effective sensor for measuring lake health

Lakes play an important role in regulating the greenhouse gases that are important to Earth’s climate. However, human-induced stress and disturbance, exacerbated by a changing climate, have put lakes under an increasing amount of stress. To understand how lakes are changing, it is critical to monitor them, especially those that are ice covered in winter months. It is difficult to make such measurements year-round because of the high cost of installing and maintaining monitoring instruments.

Professor Miao Yu (ME/ISR) is the principal investigator for Light in the Dark: Fiber Optic Sensing of Climate-Critical Carbon Cycle Components at Water/Ice-Air Interfaces, a new three-year, $500K NSF collaborative research project to advance water quality monitoring. Yu will develop a sensor that can monitor multiple water quality parameters throughout the year.

A miniature, cost-effective sensor will provide an improved understanding of the carbon footprint of lake systems and will better inform lake management decisions. The fiber-optic, multiparameter sensor will be suitable for long-term deployment, including under lake ice. The sensors will be able to simultaneously measure parameters such as carbon dioxide, methane, temperature, pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. These are the significant components of measuring a lake’s health, its influence on climate change, and the impacts of human activity on the lake.

Yu also is the University of Maryland principal investigator for a related, recently awarded four-institution National Science Foundation grant, BLUES: Boundary Layer Under-Ice Environmental Sensing. The three-year, $689K collaborative research project will start in October. The researchers will develop technology to accurately measure ice accretion and melt rates at the ice/water interface, then use that information to generate better models of under-ice water circulation and mixing. | Read the story here |

Related Articles:
Miao Yu receives NSF funding to develop ice-measuring sensors
MSAL’s work on serotonin characterization and detection results in two journal covers
Biofilm-fighting catheter insert research named 'featured article' in IEEE TBME
Biofilm-fighting system for urinary catheters proves effective in simulated environment
Rapidly evolving ‘smart marble’ sensors hold promise for monitoring pharmaceutical industry bioreactors and beyond
Ingestible device research advances, enters new phase
Chapin, Bowen win in Bioscience Day poster session
$1.5M in NSF funding secured to improve solar energy conversion systems
Sea Level Rise Could Leave Many Marooned
New ‘FRRB’ packaging technology may solve an ingestible capsule challenge

August 28, 2023


Prev   Next

Current Headlines

Looking A“Head” to the Future of Autonomous Robots

Two Maryland Engineers Named to National Academy of Inventors

Autonomy Summit Explores Potential and Challenges of AI

Trio of Maryland Engineers Named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Lists

University of Maryland Moves Ahead in Its Leadership of the United States' Semiconductor Industry

Materials Scientist Selected for Second $500K Young Faculty Award

UMD iGEM Team Wins Gold Medal at 2024 Paris iGEM Jamboree for CerviCareProject

Study Reveals First Glimpse of a Light-Driven Chemical Reaction

News Resources

Return to Newsroom

Search News

Archived News

Events Resources

Events Calendar