| Project Detail |
Smart sensors for environmental monitoring of radon
Environmental monitoring of radon levels in groundwater is not only important for public health, but elevated concentrations of the gas often indicate signs of imminent volcanic eruption or an earthquake. The EU-funded artEmis project aims to develop an inexpensive smart sensor system to monitor radon levels, as well as temperature and acidity, in groundwater. The system will consist of 100 to 200 sensors that will be strategically installed in earthquake-prone regions of Europe. Real-time data from the sensors will be collected to establish machine learning models that will map hydrological and geochemical changes. The maps will be available to the scientific community and participating local authorities with a view to boosting societal resilience.
Public awareness to environmental risk is key for building resilient societies. ArtEmis will develop a smart sensor system, monitoring radon, temperature, acidity and other observables in groundwater in real time. The ground-breaking sensor design will assure affordability, resilience and low power consumption optimizing life cycle management. The project aims to produce 100-200 sensors, that will be deployed in sensitive sites in collaboration with municipalities. Changes in radon concentration have the potential to serve as precursor for earthquakes and volcano eruptions. To advance our knowledge in this field we propose the development of a cheap sensor system, that can be employed on a large scale in earthquake prone areas of Europe. The real time collected data is used to build machine learning (ML) models for the analysis. The collected and AI processed data will generate a real time map of hydrological and geochemical changes that is shared to the scientific community and public bodies engaged in the project. A pilot project engaging citizens of the participating municipalities is part of the dissemination and exploitation activities. We expect artEmis to clarify the longstanding issue of earthquake predictions by means of geochemical precursors like changes in radon concentration. The system is designed for scalability. Dissemination and exploitation activities are tailormade to ensure support and expansion of artEmis after the project’s completion. Radon content in water causes health issues and artEmis offers a novel way to monitor both content of radon as well as changes in real time that may indicate changes in flow pattern. Hence, artEmis is facilitating multi-purpose use of the sensor system. The project will result in a shift of paradigm for environmental monitoring and natural hazards and in this fashion render Europe a leading role in environmental monitoring. |
