Monitoring of the Mar Menor to create a digital twin
Mar Menor is one of the Mediterranean’s largest and most ecologically significant coastal lagoons. Agricultural and tourist activity affects the quality of its waters, posing a significant environmental challenge.
Nitrate and phosphorus pollution, mainly from agricultural activities and wastewater, is causing a severe loss of oxygen, affecting the ecosystem.
To address this crisis, research groups from the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM) have teamed up with Libelium, a leader in advanced technological solutions, to implement a water monitoring strategy for the Mar Menor to help them understand and ultimately reverse the ecological crisis it faces.
Behind the Change in Mar Menor
Mar Menor has been suffering from episodes of advanced eutrophication due to excess nutrients, mainly nitrates and phosphates, from intensive agriculture and other human activities, which reach the lagoon via the catchment areas of the Campo de Cartagena.
The problem intensifies during holiday periods when the pressure on this ecosystem is exceptionally high. A system that would allow continuous and reliable monitoring to manage and prevent future pollution episodes was urgently needed.
After several episodes of eutrophication, many of the ecosystemic balances in Mar Menor have been broken, which means that the lagoon is experiencing an advanced degree of environmental degradation. According to the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition, the Mar Menor has lost its regulation capacity.
The solution: Automation of data capture
Water quality monitoring is one of Libelium’s strengths. It has already helped fish farms and cities improve their management.
Libelium supports UCAM researchers with IoT technology that builds on the traditional approach of on-site data collection and develops it into a complete solution that digitises and automates the sampling process.
Real-time data collection is essential to continue advancing in the improvement and protection of the Mar Menor ecosystem, since what is not measured cannot be improved. What is not improved, always degrades.
Libelium One: from the aquarium to the sea
After almost two decades of history in IoT monitoring different verticals, Libelium wanted to evolve the technology so that a single device could measure several environmental parameters. So, instead of using a Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture to measure soil moisture and a Plug & Sense! Smart Water to measure water salinity, a single One would be able to measure both. This is ideal for the environmental challenges we face today.
One was tested in an idyllic environment to push it to the limits of its capabilities: the Zaragoza Aquarium. One monitors the five river ecosystems housed in the aquarium, which needs to measure aspects of water quality such as pH, conductivity or ORP, environmental parameters such as luminosity, temperature and humidity, and soil parameters.
With this Libelium solution, placed at two strategic water exchange points between the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean Sea, UCAM’s Advanced Telecommunications Research Group (GRITA) can measure parameters such as oxygen, alkalinity, conductivity, turbidity and pH.
Methodology
- Sampling points are strategically selected in the Estacio and Marchamalo canals, key water exchange areas between the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean.
- Multiparametric probes capable of measuring redox potential, turbidity, temperature, salinity, electrical conductivity, oxygen and pH are installed weekly. The sensors are ensured to be correctly calibrated and provided with an adequate power supply.
- An Internet of Things (IoT)- based solution is developed and implemented for data collection and transmission. Physical sensors are connected to an interface that records and transmits data in real-time. A cloud-based software platform stores and manages the captured data.
- The physical sensors start collecting data on the water’s physicochemical quality. This data is recorded and transmitted continuously to the cloud software platform.
- The collected data is analysed using artificial intelligence techniques, and algorithms are applied to identify water quality patterns, trends and anomalies. Statistical tools and analysis models are used to understand better the processes affecting the Mar Menor lagoon.
This technology not only automates data collection but, thanks to its energy-efficient design, it runs on batteries and solar panels, allowing for prolonged operations without human intervention.
‘Libelium provided us with a simple system that does not need power because it is battery-powered and can be powered by solar panels so that it can be left on continuously for long-term measurements,’ says Juan Miguel Navarro Ruiz, Principal Investigator of the GRITA Research Group. ‘The idea is to create a digital twin of the Mar Menor lagoon to prevent and predict pollution episodes in its ecosystem,’ he says.
Results
Although full results are pending final analysis, preliminary data indicate a marked improvement in understanding the dynamics of the Mar Menor. The impact of pollutants and how they vary with the seasons and holiday periods has been identified.
This project has improved ecosystem management and promises to be a crucial tool in the long-term preservation of Mar Menor, thanks to the future implementation of artificial intelligence models for predicting and mitigating problems.
Beyond the Challenge: Towards a digital twin
Looking to the future, Libelium has provided a technological solution and led the way towards sustainable innovation in ecosystem management. The project’s next phase will include the development of a digital twin of the Mar Menor, which will allow different pollution scenarios and their possible solutions to be simulated and predicted. This proactive approach is not only a quantum leap in environmental conservation but also sets a precedent for applying similar technologies in other vulnerable ecosystems worldwide.
This success story demonstrates Libelium and UCAM’s commitment to technological innovation and environmental sustainability. It lays the groundwork for future research and preserves Mar Menor for future generations.
