The FDRI Community Advisory Group supports and shapes the development of FDRI, and recently welcomed new members.

The first meeting of the larger group met in the Chess catchment in February for a day combining a sit-down meeting with presentations from all parts of FDRI, and a tour of field sites with demonstrations of FDRI equipment. 

There were many helpful discussions, including on the monitoring instrumentation and locations, the need for AI ready data formats (we are currently looking at options such as Parquet and Zarr), the need for robust platforms for analysis of FDRI data such as NERC’s Jasmin systems, and the extent to which FDRI will be providing interpretation of the data it produces.
 

A thermal imaging camera image of a stretch of the river Chess, where green is cooler and red is hotter

A highlight of the field visit was the demonstration of drone-mounted thermal cameras (as shown in the image on the left) which are already providing improved data on river surface velocities as well as other intriguing insights into the variability and change in surface wetness across fields. Supporting delivery of consistent and high quality data from these new instruments will be a key activity for FDRI in the coming months. FDRI digital has been involved with international efforts to develop approaches for describing and cataloguing UAV flight information, through the Research Data Alliance. 

It’s incredibly useful to get the insights of such a broad range of users with so much experience of hydrological research and operations.