Adaptive Hydrological Data Collection in a

Remote Costa Rican Wetland and Limited Funding Context

Alice Alonso
1
, Rafael Muoz-Carpena
1
, Miguel A. Campo-Bescs
2
, Carolina Murcia
3
1
Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, University of Florida.
2
Projects and Rural Engineering Department, Public University of Navarre, Spain.
3
Duke University Organization for Tropical Studies
Contact: alice.alonso@u.edu
Situated in NW Costa Rica, the Ramsar Palo Verde wetlands have been facing severe
degradations during the last decades with the invasion of dense cattail (gure 1).

Detect trends, patterns and changes in the hydrological behavior patterns in upper the
watershed and in PV wetlands, and the causal relationships.
Characterizing the spatio-temporal hydrodynamic and the contribution of the different local
and global (basin scale) water sources in the water budget of the wetlands.
Those degradations might have been
triggered by changes in the hydroperiod and
water volumes induced by the large-scale
water transfer for hydro-power and irrigation
network development in the upper watershed
(gure 2).
Time series data measured in a system
encode its history. Their analysis can therefore
eventually inform restoration and management
strategies.
In developing countries, data collection is often
challenged by a lack of resources and
expertise, along with an often short-term and
fragmented vision.
Error propagation and accumulation can happen very quickly with such sophisticated sensors.
Field sta! successfully handle the practical aspects required to deal with such harsh eld conditions.
The limited knowledge about theory underlying the objectives of instrumentation and sensors
functioning by eld sta! led to multiple errors. It is critical to address this gap.
Effort has been furnished by OTS to institutionalize the data collection process, there is still a lack in vision by
the staff, which threaten the sustainability of the effort. There is a need to raise awareness about the crucial role
of long term and reliable time series.
In a larger scale (public and private national institutions), we witnessed a strong reticence in the release of
data. Shift has to be made from the data seen as being a potential institution economic leverage tool to data
being a tremendous tool to support the sustainable development of the country.
PROJECT BACKGROUND METHODOLOGY
LESSONS LEARNED
TECHNICAL and THEORETICAL TRAINING of
OTS STAFF, ADAPTATIVE MANAGEMEMT of
THE INSTRUMENTATION NETWORK: Reach a total
autonomy while ensuring data quality.

INSTUTIONALIZATION : Insure continuity of data
collection and their open access.
Raise awareness about importance of long term reliable time series
data from eld staff to institutions directors.
Acknowledgement: We would like to give a special thank you to the NSF and Tropical
Conservation and Development Center and ABE Department for their nancial support. Special
thanks to Organization for Tropical Studies for the data provided and the great collaboration
during the implementation of the instrumentation network and the current data recollection.
Thank you also to IMN and ICE and all intermediate for sharing their data.
Reference: Schumann, A. And R. Muoz-Carpena. 2002. A simple Self-Contained Canal
Storage Recorder. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 18(6):20-25

OBJECTIVES UNDERLYING the DATA COLLECTION
Figure 4: Chart eld of the data collection strategy highlighting the adaptive process. By the
end of the project we aim the OTS staff to be autonomous and so erase the dshed blue line
from the diagram
RESSOURCES AND CHALLENGES
Historical time series of
discharge and
meteorological data in the
watershed and PVNP
Partnership with
On-site research station
managed by OTS !
infrastructure +
technical staff
Harsh eld conditions
Difculty of access
Limited
budget
HISTORICAL DATA TREATMENT
From 4 hydrological stations in function since 10 years in the PVNP
More than 650,000 data in total, stored in ~480 les
Variable temporal resolution and units, data not QA/QC
In the Tempisque Watershed
Collection and digitalization of discharge and meteorological data (1950 to present) in a context of
data constraint access and fragmented institutional system.
Missing data lled in with Singular Spectral Analysis. Figure 1: Palo Verde wetland in 1980 and 2010 during the wet season, showing the dense
cattail invasion (Carolina Murcia).
Palo Verde Wetland in 1980 Palo Verde Wetland in 2010
Figure 2: Map of the Tempisque watershed locating the
different human infrastructures having transformed the
system during the last decades. The situation of the Palo
Verde National Park in the lower part of the catchment
makes it vulnerable to those changes.
"
%
%
%
%
%
%
Copyright: 2013 Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ
0 10 20 30 40 5
Km

Tempisque Watershed
Rivers
% Cities
Lake Arenal
" Hydroelectric plant
Pipe
Irrigation canals
Palo Verde National Park
Wetlands

Gulf of Nicoya
Pacific Ocean
Nicoya Gulf
"
%
%
%
%
%
%
Copyright: 2013 Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ
0 10 20 30 40 5
Km

Tempisque Watershed
Rivers
% Cities
Lake Arenal
" Hydroelectric plant
Pipe
Irrigation canals
Palo Verde National Park
Wetlands

Gulf of Nicoya
Pacific Ocean
Nicoya Gulf
Figure 3: Instrumentation network map (f), and pictures of sensors used and of some infrastructures. (a) Logging Rain Gauge RG2M, Onset Computer
Corp; (b) Rainfall station; (c) Piezometers for ground (left) and supercial ( right) waters level measurement; (d) Water level datalogger Solinst Levellogger
Edge; (e) Selfcontained canal recorder (Schumann and Muoz-Carpena. 2002). (g) Stream discharge measurement platform; (h) Water runoff
measurement station; (i) Weather station Campbell Scientic.
(b)
(c) (d)
(e)
(f) (g)
(h)
(a)
(i)

INSTRUMENTATION NETWORK in PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK: Measure the
different components of the water budget of the wetland
ARCHIVAL in the SQL database web server Hydrobase.
Solid historical data set built, after important effort.
Access to important data is still restricted by public and private
national institutions.
Low cost Instrumentation network built and staff trained in an
iterative and adaptive fashion. Full autonomy target by the end of
the project (2016).
Hydrobase is a powerful tool allowing remote access for data
upload and QC/QA, data centralization, and preliminary analysis.
Awareness still need to be raised to institutionalize the data
collection vision.
CONCLUSIONS and PERSPECTIVES
" Remote access
" Data centralization and standardization
" Plotting and statistical analysis capabilities
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