JGSEE-CEE is pleased to congratulate Mr Uday Pimple, JGSEE researcher, for receiving the 2019 Research Grant Award from the Asahi Glass Foundation on 3 July 2019. For this award, Mr Uday proposed a project titled “Development of Automated Mangrove Forest Monitoring System characterised by physiological effect of environmental factors”. This project is part of the existing RESCuE (Monitoring and Restoration for Sustainable Coastal Ecosystems) project (https://rescue-pro.net/) which brings together five public, private and government sectors. The project partners include, JGSEE, KMUTT, the Thai Royal Forest Department, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Srinakharinwirot University and X-Ability Co., Ltd (Japan).
The automated mangrove monitoring system is a wireless FieldRouter, integrating a network of in-situ high-resolution cameras that are linked to a normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI), the photochemical reflectance index (PRI), and HYDROS- 2l and ATMOS-41. The proposed monitoring system is the first of its kind, monitoring physiological effects caused by various environmental factors. It will demonstrate enhanced information content, and accurate reporting, at a lower cost. It is also the first step in developing a prototype for what is proposed to be the beginning of a network of observatories across Thailand. On this occasion, the Asahi team visited the laboratories of KMUTT at Bangkhuntien, including the Advanced Fuel Research Laboratory of JGSEE-CEE.
