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Fluvial gas eXchange Observatory

Project description

Tracking gas dynamics in river systems

Rivers continuously exchange gas with the atmosphere regulating oxygen levels, carbon cycles and greenhouse gas emissions. However, understanding how gases move between rivers and air remains a challenge. Patterns to the river surface created by turbulence hold the key to measuring gas exchange. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FluXObs project seeks to further understand the near-surface turbulent motions using aerial imagery and advanced computer vision approaches. FluXObs will develop precise tools to monitor gas transfer in rivers, enabling better mitigation of gas imbalances and improving gas emission estimates. This innovative approach bridges gaps in current methods, offering new insight into river ecosystems and geochemistry, and their role in global emissions.

Objective

The exchange of gas between water and the atmosphere is a fundamental aspect of river hydrodynamics that must be accurately quantified and monitored to sustain healthy habitat conditions (e.g. acceptable oxygen levels) and balanced carbon and nutrient cycling, especially in the face of widespread anthropogenic river alterations and ongoing climate change. However, current gas exchange measurements lack sufficient resolution, and models are either too general, missing key processes, or too abstract, relying on parameters that cannot be quantified in practical applications. This hinders effective monitoring and mitigation of the ecological impacts of gas imbalance and contributes to the current very large uncertainties in global estimates of riverine greenhouse gas emissions.

Near-surface turbulent motions, the key drivers of gas exchange, deform the surface with distinct shapes and patterns, offering a coded yet very detailed visual manifestation of the gas transfer velocity. With FluXObs, I will decrypt these patterns using state-of-the art computer vision approaches, and map the gas transfer based on aerial images of the water surface. My significant experience interpreting and leveraging water surface dynamics to monitor the flow conditions of rivers remotely equips me exceptionally well for this challenge. With support and training from an extraordinary team of researchers in physics and biogeochemistry, based across two institutions, I will synergise theoretical analysis, laboratory experiments in a unique facility, and field tests. Ultimately, FluXObs will deliver new robust operational models and measurement tools to map the gas transfer velocity with unprecedented resolution, paving the way for large-scale monitoring and mitigation of gas imbalances in rivers and improving gas emission budgets, facilitating our transition to a more sustainable future.

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF

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Coordinator

NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU
Net EU contribution

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€ 251 578,56
Address
HOGSKOLERINGEN 1
7491 TRONDHEIM
Norway

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Region
Norge Trøndelag Trøndelag
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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