DMeStHyA

The management of agricultural land requires an assessment of the impact of agriculture on the water cycle, particularly against the backdrop of increasing restrictions on the application of nitrogen-containing substances (liquid manure, biogas digestate and sewage sludge). The data currently available does not allow for the dynamic utilisation of agricultural land. The monitoring network of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia (LANUV NRW), comprising 300 hydrometeorological monitoring stations, serves not only the flood information service. It also has the potential to collect baseline data that enables the quantification and assessment of nitrate input from agriculture into groundwater, thereby facilitating sustainable nitrate management. The data collected is to be transferred to a cloud-based decision-making management system and made available to users there.

One of DMeStHyA’s objectives is to standardise the design and operation of hydrometeorological monitoring stations. On the other hand, the data collected is to be transferred to a cloud-based decision-making management system via an interface, in order to optimise digital data collection and its provision. This requires the development of a concept for the design and equipment of the measuring stations as well as the entire monitoring network.

The first step involves equipping the monitoring network with new hydrometeorological sensors and upgrading the St. Arnold lysimeter facility to serve as a climate reference site. The modernisation of the monitoring network is intended to support the development and verification of AI models. The interface will then be adapted for cloud connectivity (SDI12 transmission) to retrieve measurement data directly from the sensor and establish true redundancy in data transmission (prototype development). The potential for upscaling to other monitoring networks will be assessed in a subsequent step, along with the possible integration of further monitoring networks. All work carried out will be transferred to a digital operating system for documentation purposes.

The Water Infrastructure and Digitalisation Research Group is responsible for the scientific supervision of the following topics within DMeStHyA:

• Evaluation of the digitalisation standard from the pilot project

• Economic assessment of the standard

• Application analysis for upscaling the standard to other fields of application

• Evaluation of the measurement network density of monitoring stations

• Evaluation of data validation for reliable data transmission

• Development of a standard method for implementing digitisation at LANUV

• Analysis of organisational efficiency gains resulting from digitalisation

The research group’s remit also includes report writing and knowledge transfer from other R&D projects, organising quarterly status meetings (including minute-taking), and producing annual interim reports.

Further information here: https://fue-hydromet.de/dmesthya/