In the last post, I introduced lightning as a significant hazard to field science gear. In case you were thinking that my concern is hypothetical, I’m going to provide some real examples of what happens when waaaay too much static
Besides wildfire, one of the most significant natural hazards risks for sensory installations in mountain environments is lightning. Direct hits are not necessarily required to incur electrical damage, especially if the design of the equipment is such that the circuitry
In this final segment of my mini-series on drones and mountain science, I’ll address a couple of ways in which I would personally use the technology right now. Snow stake surveys This is different from the remote-sensing application addressed previously,
Last time, I rattled off some initial thoughts about how this recent dronemania may positively impact mountain science. We stopped at the idea of a small-scale remote-sensing platform, but I think there are a few other ways that drones are
Drones. Literally the buzzword for many scientists in recent years looking to add flash to their C.V. or impress their administrative colleagues. Advances in battery technology, onboard software stability control, and inexpensive high-speed telemetry have created an exploding market for
The search for the highest wind speeds usually leads us to the tops of mountains and ridges. Higher topography should result in greater air velocity, right? Intuitively, we expect windiness to increase with height and elevation. Tall buildings, towers, poles,
It would be understatement to say that air temperature is the single most important climate variable to measure. The growth of biologic organisms, especially plants, is closely tied to temperature regimes. That is, for any given organism there exists some
Electronics and field research are more intertwined than ever. With the advent of inexpensive multifunction dataloggers, more and more research projects are deploying sensor systems with the intent of obtaining multiple years of data. Long term observation sites have been
Nothing can replace real observations in the field. For a couple of decades now, electronic monitoring of environmental processes has been mainstream in science circles. These days, almost every hydrology or ecology researcher has some campaign in progress where electronic
When studying mountain systems, limiting your focus to a single elevation can also limit the story you can elicit from your observations. Intuitively it may seem that a bristlecone pine stand, a pika community, or a montane snowpack is disconnected