The goal is to understand, predict, and communicate the impact of natural and anthropogenic influences on lake and reservoir
ecosystems. The researchers include
limnologists,
ecologists,
information technology experts, and
engineers who have a common objective of building and growing a scalable, persistent network of
lake ecology observatories; developing new theoretical models based on the more extensive spatial and temporal scales of data; integrating new technologies to utilize the data; educating a new generation of researchers in team science; and engaging the public. Each lake or reservoir observatory consists of one or more instrumented platforms capable of sensing key
limnological variables and moving the data in near-real time to web-accessible databases. The types of
sensors employed at these observatories include: temperature, dissolved
oxygen, dissolved
carbon dioxide,
phytoplankton pigments such as
chlorophyll and
phycocyanin, as well as devices that detect water movements such as acoustic
Doppler current profilers (
ADCP.) Many of the observatories also track
meteorological parameters on the lake such as
solar radiation, wind speed, and relative humidity. Data from the network of observatories will allow a better understanding of key processes such as the effects of climate and land use change on lake or reservoir function, the role of episodic events such as
typhoons in resetting aquatic dynamics, and
carbon cycling within lakes and reservoirs. ==Participating lakes and organizations==