Overview

The RTHnet program is being developed to support Pennsylvania State University (PSU) faculty members with water resources interests as well as the broader hydrologic research community. Initial deployment of the RTHnet sensor arrays is focused on the Shale Hills experimental watershed. Planned future extensions will build on the real-time sensor deployments in Shale Hills by advancing real-time sensing in the Leading Ridge and Lake Perez catchments as well as new sites along Shaver's Creek and the confluence with the Juniata River. All of the aforementioned watersheds are located within the PSU Experimental Forest. Overall, the RTHnet sensor arrays will be fully integrated with existing university, state and federally supported instrumentation at these locations (i.e., the USGS stream gauging network, the Leading Ridge EPA Acid Deposition site, and the NSF-Funded Shale Hills experimental watershed). The RTHnet program represents an integrated effort across the programs of Civil Engineering, Forestry, Soil Sciences, Geography, and Meteorology at PSU.

The RTHnet field facility is being established through the field deployment of “off the shelf” Internet Protocol (IP) compliant real-time sensor arrays. RTHnet's long-term goal will be to establish an integrated "bedrock-to-boundary layer" observation strategy (see [1] and [2]) that will incorporate climate stations, eddy covariance flux stations, stream gauging, soil moisture profilers, and pressure transducers for monitoring groundwater levels. Real-time internet accessible data from these sensor arrays will support research and educational efforts investigating interactions between the atmosphere, surface and subsurface terrestrial processes, and the riverine hydrologic system.