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The impacts of nutrient enrichment are one of the grand environmental challenges facing society, affecting both the health of aquatic ecosystems and the societies and economies that depend on them. In the last decade, new in situ technologies capable of high frequency measurements of nutrient concentrations have emerged, and have transformed our understanding of nutrient loading, sources, ecosystem responses, and management effectiveness. Recognizing the intrinsic value of these measurements for monitoring progress towards remediation, and the stark cost constraints placed on their widespread adoption, the Office of Technology Policy commissioned the National Nutrient Sensor Challenge. The goal is to push the limits of measurement accuracy, cost, and deployment logistics (e.g., biofouling, telemetry). This talk will describe the origins, motivation and early results of the National Challenge, and orient the audience to emerging technologies that will transform our ability to assess trends, cycles and extreme events in watershed nutrient export and aquatic ecosystem responses. |