Open-source Automatic Weather Station and Electronic Ablation Station for measuring the impacts of climate change on glaciers

Abstract

Glaciers are natural sensors to identify changes in climate and weather patterns, so the importance of monitoring them in a forceful way. In this paper, we show the development and application of a set of low cost sensors, customized for the characteristics of glacial environments. Two modules are part of the project: (1) an Automatic Weather Station; and (2) an Electronic Ablation Station. We also show the results of field tests performed on glaciers of southern Patagonia. Keywords: AWS, Glaciology, Climatology, Arduino, Ice Melting