The purpose of this research is to evaluate the application of technology solutions for enabling environmental research. This project develops a complete environmental observing system in support of an investigation of the hydrological and ecological impacts of land use change on the coast of South Carolina. The land use change study is an ongoing multi-disciplinary effort involving the collection of a large number of monitored and sampled parameters at Bannockburn Plantation, which is located near the City of Georgetown in South Carolina. Long term monitoring will support a hydrological and ecological assessment of the study site before, during, and after proposed residential and commercial development. There are three primary objectives of this work. The first is the comprehensive instrumentation of a portion of the Bannockburn study site for hydrological parameters. The second is the implementation of a wireless sensor network to support the remote acquisition of monitored data. The third objective is the creation of a reliable and robust software solution for transmitting and distributing real time observation data. Collectively, these three objectives provide a complete environmental observing system. Results of this work will benefit land use change research by providing access to real time observation data and enabling the integration of powerful analysis tools. This research will provide a basis for the development of future environmental observation systems
