Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2018IL340B

Characterization of harmful algal blooms using small unmanned aircraft systems and watershed analysis in southern Illinois

Institute: Illinois
Year Established: 2018 Start Date: 2018-03-01 End Date: 2019-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $9,982 Total Non-Federal Funds: $19,974

Principal Investigators: Ruopu Li, Di Wu

Project Summary: Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) are a severe water quality problem, which persist in many water bodies of inland or coastal environments and pose negative health and economic impacts on the U.S. economy. Therefore, monitoring the condition s of HABs using cost-effective tools and understanding the environmental factors associated with HABs are critical to develop coping strategies to mitigate and manage the problem. The objectives of this project are to: ( I) develop a Unmanned Aircraft Systems-based HABs monitoring model, and (2)understand the watershed characteristics that contribute to the outbreak of HABs in Southern Illinois.