Hydronet

Hydronet is enhancing water level monitoring by implementing a cost-effective sensor network in high flood-risk areas across Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay region. Hydronet sensors are low-cost, solar powered, and networked through cellular connections. The sensors are installed in high flood-risk communities, with priority given to those that are currently underserved, underrepresented, overburdened, and lack adequate monitoring infrastructure. Once sensors are installed, local decision makers are able to access water level information through a convenient dashboard, and even set up alerts they can use for decision-making. Hydronet integrates information from observations and model simulations to help Maryland make informed decisions on community adaptation to climate change and mitigation of increasingly extreme short-term climate events.

Hydronet’s primary objective is to bolster coastal resilience and develop an enhanced flood risk alert system. This endeavor integrates input from stakeholders at the community, county, and regional tiers to ensure a better understanding of the risk preferences and needs of decision makers. The information gathered from the sensors coupled with NOAA tidal predictions will provide data to downscale future NOAA tide casts.

This effort will culminate in the development and application of a state-of-the-art high-resolution predictive platform that interconnects land-atmosphere-ocean dynamics, marine ecosystem productivity, coastal inundation analysis, and climate risk assessment. We will validate the platform against historical records and intensive observations collected through existing observation systems and a new network of water level sensors that prioritizes areas with high flood risk, particularly communities that have been underrepresented and lack sufficient observation data. We will co-produce its information delivery system through robust partnerships with federal, state, and local agencies. The predictive platform will play a pivotal role in shaping policy decisions and fostering the establishment of resilient coastal communities in a changing climate.

Our goal is to work in partnership with decision-makers across all intragovernmental levels to provide information and insight that ensures a better support of the needs of local decision-makers. Our priority is to integrate the information from better observations and model simulations made with 1) advanced high-resolution data networks essential for monitoring and assessing ongoing changes and 2) research-grade regional climate and hydrology models downscaled to help Maryland make informed decisions on community adaptation to climate change and mitigation of increasingly extreme short-term climate events.