Hydronet

Our goal is to enhance water level monitoring throughout the Chesapeake Bay region by implementing a cost-effective sensor network. The primary objective is bolstering coastal resilience and an enhanced flood risk alert system. This endeavor focuses on the Maryland areas surrounding the Chesapeake Bay and integrates input from stakeholders at the community, county, and regional tiers. Priority is being given to high flood-risk communities that are lacking adequate monitoring infrastructure.

Initial funding has been provided under the University of Maryland’s Grand Challenges program (https://research.umd.edu/climategc), an initiative that brings together the departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Geography, Geology, the Marine Estuarine Environmental Science program, and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, called the Maryland Climate Resilience Network. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARACOOS) has committed 5 years of support to expand the Hydronet across the region, including coastal bays and up the rivers that are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.