Polar & High Altitude

Instrumentation for High Altitude and High Latitude Sites

Polar & High Altitude

From single research stations to large networks, Campbell Scientific monitoring systems have become the world-wide standard for cold weather, high latitude, and high altitude applications. Our stations have measured conditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic, on glaciers, and on mountain peaks around the world.

Long-term, unattended station operation is achieved with low-power use, batteries and solar panels, wireless data retrieval, and large onboard data storage capacity. For example, stations installed in the summer have the capability to monitor conditions while “overwintering.”

System Benefits

  1. Stations are customised by choosing from a variety of data loggers, sensors, and communications options.
  2. Battery/solar power charging system allows long-term, stand-alone operation.
  3. Most commercially available sensors can be measured by our data loggers.
  4. Stations can perform unattended control based on time or measured parameters.
  5. Stations are research-grade, yet cost-effective
  6. Communications options include satellite (Argos, GOES, and others), phone, cellphone, and radio.
  7. Networks are easily expandable: add new sites or add sensors to existing sites.
  8. Stations can do double duty—avalanche forecasting, hydrological monitoring, fire weather, and more.
  9. Data Loggers provide statistical and mathematical processing for on-site data reduction.

Applications

Accurate measurements, durability, low power use, proven reliability, and the ability to customise each station make our equipment ideal for a variety of applications including:

  • Avalanche forecasting
  • Cold weather effects research
  • Cold weather equipment performance
  • Electrical power transmission
  • Energy balance studies
  • Environmental research
  • Glaciology
  • Ice-flow movement (GPS-based)
  • Ice-load/impact monitoring
  • Paleoclimatology
  • Permafrost research
  • Polar & alpine ecology
  • Polar oceanography
  • Research meteorology
  • Road conditions (RWIS)
  • Ski conditions reporting
  • Structural research
  • Surface & groundwater hydrology
  • Weather & climate reporting

Data Loggers

Our monitoring stations are based around a programmable data logger (typically a CR10X or CR23X) that measures the sensors, then stores and transmits the data. We designed our data loggers to provide a high level of station customization. They have programmable execution intervals, operating temperature ranges down to -55°C, on-board instructions for commonly used sensors, and adequate input channels to accommodate many different sensor configurations.

CR10X

If needed, channel capacity can be expanded using multiplexers, including a model designed specifically for thermocouples. Our data loggers interface directly to most sensors, eliminating external signal conditioning. Powerful on-board instruction sets allow unattended control decisions based on time or conditional events. For example, peripherals such as heaters or specialized sensors can be actuated based on temperature, wind speed, solar radiation, or some other measured parameter or event. These instruction sets contain programmed algorithms that process measurements and output results in the desired units of measure. Wind vector, wet bulb, histogram, and sample on maxima or minima are all standard to the data logger instruction sets.

CR23X

Measurement processing and data storage are programmable, but measurements are typically processed and stored at hourly and daily intervals (e.g., maxima, minima, averages). True averages can be calculated and stored by the data loggers. Conditional outputs can also be processed and stored. For example, data can be stored at faster intervals based on events such as increased wind speeds or subnormal temperatures.

Sensors

Almost any sensor can be measured by our data loggers, allowing stations to be customised for each site. Typical sensors used with our stations include, but are not limited to: relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, temperature (air, water, soil), precipitation, snow depth, barometric pressure, soil moisture, and water quality, as well as strain gages, accelerometers, pressure transducers, GPS receivers, linear potentiometers, and many more.

Data Retrieval

We offer multiple communications options for data retrieval, allowing stations to meet exact needs. Telecommunication options include radio frequency, satellite (Argos, GOES, Inmarsat-C), telephone (landline, voice-synthesized, cellular), short-haul, and multidrop. On-site options include storage module, laptop computer, and data logger keyboard/display. Robust error-checking and low-power use ensure your data arrives uncorrupted and as scheduled. We can even help you post your data to the Internet.

Software

Our Windows-based software simplifies data logger programming, data retrieval, and report generation. The data logger program can be modified at any time to accommodate different sensor configurations or new data processing requirements.