Undergraduate Researcher return to map return to student search
Hometown:
Athol,
ID
US
(Kootenai County)
School:
North Idaho College
Undergraduate student
Computer Science
Funded by EPSCoR Award:
ICREWS | OIA-2242769
Research Location(s):
University of Idaho Department of Engineering and Computer Science, Coeur d'Alene
COUNTIES: Kootenai
LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT(S): District 4
Research Statement:
Evapotranspiration (ET) is an essential data factor for farmers and water managers as it accurately indicates how much water is lost to the atmosphere, unused by crops and plants. NASA’s OpenET infrastructure allows anyone to access ET data for free, but this tool does not contain long term storage or default compatibility with databases and other software packages. The goal of the project I worked on was to create a reusable workflow for getting this OpenET data into the Grafana visualization software package, so that weather data for precise coordinates could be accessed and understood at glance. Python programming to access the OpenET API was used along with the MongoDB database to query and organize the data respectively. GitHub Actions provided a stable workflow for automating the querying script. Using a specialized set of commands, connection between the database and Grafana is possible. In addition, the workflow was expanded to include local sensor data in addition to the OpenET data, allowing for an even deeper local analysis of a whole agricultural weather ecosystem. A shareable file of this workflow’s steps in simple terms was written, that our technology stack might be replicated to increase efficiency in water management.
Research Impact:
The "Analysis and Visualization of Evapotranspiration Data" project foresees great benefit to farmers and water budgeters due to the importance of evapotranspiration in water management and the ease of access to said data through what our project has delineated. Idaho's extensive agricultural infrastructure can only benefit from the ability to visualize a swath of weather data at a glance, as our project offers. Knowing how much water is going out of a system can be just as important as knowing how much goes in, the difference between the two being what is actually used up. Giving irrigation planners this pipeline will allow for greater understanding, efficiency, and thus, greater economy of choice and budget. Student Website