N1005 IBM Research: IBM Project Jefferson

<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">From ocean bays in Ireland to fresh water lakes in New York, IBM “smarter water” scientists have developed a way to forecast the health of bodies of water — in 3-D. <a href="http://www.research.ibm.com/labs/ireland/applications/deep_current.html"><span style="color: blue;">IBM DeepCurrent</span></a> laps up data from coastlines to underwater depths via sensors attached to everything from buoys to tagged fish. It creates 3-D models that can zoom in on a location or event to provide accurate predictions of environmental dynamics, such as salt runoff or invasive species. So, business owners, environmental agencies and public administrators can use it to improve their accuracy in marine monitoring to better manage and forecast for potentially destructive environmental events.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuMIbNsUKtIsASlM4AeIaXXyKwU01yVcZlEpZyrRxmDxaSCvs-aQc3RXh5LEnAR4t0qBeqriaN4JMSSAgsDy4tXWLmrZKb3RFlaabfUOsW00poqx3JbeUGU6EfZu8BWV7MdBxRgL30SBQ/s1600/DSC_0253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuMIbNsUKtIsASlM4AeIaXXyKwU01yVcZlEpZyrRxmDxaSCvs-aQc3RXh5LEnAR4t0qBeqriaN4JMSSAgsDy4tXWLmrZKb3RFlaabfUOsW00poqx3JbeUGU6EfZu8BWV7MdBxRgL30SBQ/s200/DSC_0253.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">Emanuele Ragnoli</span></td></tr></tbody></table>“IBM DeepCurrent is a geophysical fluid dynamics tool that focuses on fluid motion in the earth’s water systems. It simulates the flow of water and corresponding changes in its properties, such as variations in temperature, salinity and nutrient concentrations."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“And it can also tell us about water flows, water quality, and other environmental parameters by using physical models, machine learning and control theory algorithms, combined with sensor data, in a particular coastal area,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/emanuele-ragnoli/0/b57/a33" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Emanuele Ragnoli</span></a>, an IBM Environmental Analytics researcher in Dublin, Ireland. </span><br /><a name="more"></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /><a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/smarterwater/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Galway Bay</span></a> is a popular coastal area on the west coast of Ireland that’s been eulogized in movies to music, but it's under threat of pollution, flooding, and other environmental factors. Emanuele’s team is applying IBM DeepCurrent prediction and modelling to study the live dynamics of oceanic flows into the bay, detecting the oceanic flow’s interaction with freshwater discharges, integrating radar imagery of surface currents, and even monitoring the wind-driven currents to offer insights into the ecological planning and economic management of the bay. Now, scientists can see, in a 3-D model, how live weather data will impact everything from tributaries into the bay, to how currents distribute marine nutrients — or contaminants — across the bay. So far, IBM DeepCurrent deployment has shown a 10 to 20 percent error reduction of predicted flows within the bay, relative to past sensor measurements.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EXpOUcpKOTk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EXpOUcpKOTk?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">On the other side of the Atlantic, IBM DeepCurrent researchers examined the effects of Hurricane Sandy on Chesapeake Bay, which straddles the states of Virginia and Maryland. The team combined a disparate array of sensor data with model simulations to reproduce the changes of water elevation during the movement of this super storm, and mapped the resulting environmental effects it had on cities and regions around the bay. The deployment validated the performance of the system in extreme events. Now, the team hopes to apply IBM DeepCurrent to similar situations in real-time to assist city managers and urban planners with emergency planning and management.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“The coastal ocean represents perhaps the most complex natural system, subject to a nonlinear and chaotic set of conditions that make predictions extremely challenging. The accurate quantification of flow processes in the upper layers of the ocean requires a holistic consideration of system-forcing variables and accurate field sampling data."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“But this is exactly what IBM DeepCurrent does. It provides industry, local government and relevant stakeholders with real-time information to better manage the coastal environment and mitigate anthropogenic impacts,” said <a href="http://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=ie-FEARDONN" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Fearghal O’Donncha</span></a>, IBM Environmental Analytics researcher.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />  <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60QtIiauyeozPCyeFS47-l7_1tpVAGaEFiW6fUCmscES1SB4WgJcwlswrbnZ_Oc79G2MmTzZD9icNToygIXKFeP_qFt_-wvXJjk-gNYGeA9Gtmj24-CQbL85mbOh7L3XJ-Z3gQ2KfUaA/s1600/DSC_0254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60QtIiauyeozPCyeFS47-l7_1tpVAGaEFiW6fUCmscES1SB4WgJcwlswrbnZ_Oc79G2MmTzZD9icNToygIXKFeP_qFt_-wvXJjk-gNYGeA9Gtmj24-CQbL85mbOh7L3XJ-Z3gQ2KfUaA/s200/DSC_0254.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">Fearghal O'Donncha</span></td></tr></tbody></table>IBM DeepCurrent’s latest effort is its first in fresh water: the <a href="http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2014/10/predicting-lake-georges-future.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">IBM Jefferson Project</span></a> at New York’s Lake George. The "Queen of American Lakes" is threatened by salt, algae, and invasive marine species affecting the fish and vegetation. And IBM DeepCurrent's role in the joint project with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the FUND for Lake George is to help study the circulation of salt runoff from de-icing nearby roads in the winter.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">In October, as part of the European Commission’s Frontier and Emerging Technologies initiative, the team from Ireland will use IBM DeepCurrent to model the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The work will not only help further validate IBM DeepCurrent’s predictive capabilities, but also help continue to account for oil still in the gulf five years after the deadly explosion. <br /> </span></div>

From ocean bays in Ireland to fresh water lakes in New York, IBM “smarter water” scientists have developed a way to forecast the health of b...