|
Aims | Technology | People | Location | Data | Links | Publications |
In the summer of 2009, six newly designed wireless probes were installed 60m into the ice and subglacial sediment at Skalafellsjökull, Iceland as part of the EPSRC funded Glacsweb (Glacier wireless sensor network) project. Unfortunately communications were lost, and it was assumed the new system had failed. However, last week, during an expedition to investigate the system, communications were re-established with the probes! Four out of the six sent their data back to Southampton, making these probes not only the most successful, but the most long lived. The sensor data collected indicated the range of subglacial processes occurring within a small area.
The Glacsweb project is a joint project between Prof Jane Hart, School of Geography and Dr Kirk Martinez, Electronics and Computer Science, which uses the advances in sensor network technology to study subglacial processes in order to understand the relationship between glaciers and climate change. Previous research was carried out at the rapidly retreating Briksdalsbreen, Norway which has been recently published in Hart et al. (2009) Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 597-607. and Rose et al. (2009) Boreas, 38, 579–590.
Various advances in the technology, based on our experiences in Norway, were used to make the system capable of surviving in Iceland. As the probes spend most of their time “asleep” between readings the amount of power they use in that mode is very important and has been reduced to 0.6µAmps which is roughly half of the previous value, which allows the probes to survive for years. We added a sensor to roughly measure how reflective its surroundings were to help interpret its environment as well as improving the sensitivity of its thermometer in order to detect warming at the glacier bed. To make the system more manageable a small Linux-based computer was used on the glacier surface which can run modern script languages like Python. It uses a pay-as-you-go mobile phone to send data directly to the server in the UK. The site in Iceland is more remote but the phone system provides the best way to link to the internet. The weather in Iceland is also more severe – with several metres of snow covering everything all winter – so all the hardware on the ice had to be strong enough to survive under snow for months.