Patricia A. Beddows | Northwestern University (original) (raw)
PROFESSIONALINTERESTS• Karst,andcaves - hydrogeology,geochemistry,geomorphology,andsedimentology• Paleoenvironmentalrecordsofsealevel,climatechange,andlandscapeevolutionfromsediments,speleothems,andfluidinclusionsinspeleothems• Appliedresearchincludeswaterresources,contaminanttransport,andgeoarcheology• Leadershipinearthscience educationandprogramdevelopment• Problem-based learning(PBL)andeducationbeyondtheclassroom
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Papers by Patricia A. Beddows
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2020
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2018
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2016
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2020
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2018
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2016
The cost of commercial hydrological sensors poses a significant barrier, often limiting the numbe... more The cost of commercial hydrological sensors poses a significant barrier, often limiting the number of sites and temporal scope of monitoring projects. We present a data logging system designed for monitoring projects that require more than one year of continuous operation. These units are relatively easy to build for 50−50-50−150 using Arduino microcontrollers housed in standard PVC fittings. They are powered by standard AA batteries, and save csv formatted data on removable SD cards. Variables such as sampling frequency are user adjustable, and the driver software is easily modified to support a variety of different analog or digital sensors. Two beta model configurations will be presented. The first records water flow using the principle of the hydro-metric pendulum, where drag-force induced tilt of a freely swinging body allows current speed and direction to be derived. This design has already survived more than three months of salt water submersion at 5 m depth in a flooded cave environment, and has been pressure tested to greater than 30 m. A second prototype, designed to study vadose hydrology, records the number of individual drops of water on the housing using an accelerometer. The goal of this open source project is to provide a robust platform that is inexpensive enough to bring large scale monitoring networks within the range of modest research budgets. In addition, exploratory “tattle-tale” deployments of these loggers is a low risk strategy for identifying locations within complex systems that are worthy of more intensive study with commercial equipment. Working physical models will be presented, and links to the construction plans and software provided.
We present a low cost data logger and environmental housing system developed for long term monito... more We present a low cost data logger and environmental housing system developed for long term monitoring projects that require operation in remote locales under humidity saturation and/or sub-aquatic environments, with the aim of providing 1 year deployment durations for a number of sensor configurations. The project ethos focuses on accessibility for limited budget non-experts, by using a limited number of open-source and inexpensive parts assembled with a minimum number of common tools. Bench-testing of more than sixty builds have advanced the basic three component electronic design (Arduino, RTC, SD card) to the point where one full year of operation is now demonstrated with three AA batteries. More than forty real world deployments have been completed over the last year including in flooded caves using the robust underwater housing tested to 30 m depth that can be made for less than $15 dollars with only a drill, a hacksaw, and sandpaper. Models with different sensor combinations will be demonstrated: drip/precipitation sensors, flow sensors, pressure sensors, temperature strings, and relative humidity sensors. Design and construction details will be provided.
More than 700 km of flooded cave have been documented along the 200 km of coastline south of Canc... more More than 700 km of flooded cave have been documented along the 200 km of coastline south of Cancún, Yucatán Peninsula, México. Development projections include a 40-fold increase in population in the coming 20 years. Access to the caves is through collapse sinkholes called cenotes, which may serve as surface proxies for the underlying cave systems. Cenote mapping will likely expedite exploration and ultimately contribute to water and waste management. However, all data on cenotes remains limited. Modest efforts began in 2006 to establish a standardized cenote data collection methodology bridging geological, biological, archeological, and land use aspects for use by local persons, explorers, and visiting interested persons. Therefore the methodology needed to be usable by persons with no specific background in karst or the local area. A three-page data collection form is supported by a 10-page orientation guide including instructions for field sketching, and a field picture guide. In 2006-2007, volunteers spent a total of four months collecting data on 80 sites. In 2008 the project will include more volunteers, data entry into a GIS, and initial interpretations of cenote geospa-tial data with structural and topographic features in this subtle, low relief karst platform. The greatest long term challenge in this effort remains legal issues surrounding information management and ultimately transfer to government decision makers.