Monday, December 8, 2014

Time-lapse photos and synched weather data unlock Antarctic secrets

own researchers use remote data-gathering equipment to study long-term meteorological and geological forces at work in Antarctica. Time-lapse photography synched with weather data also helps understand natural forces on the surface of Mars.

In preparation for his upcoming fieldwork, Brown University research analyst Jay Dickson took 10,000 pictures of the inside of his freezer. He wasn't investigating disappearing food or making sure the light went off when he closed the door. Dickson was making sure his new camera and timer would function properly for long periods in sub-freezing temperatures.
"Everything worked great in the freezer for five weeks," Dickson said, "so hopefully it will all work in the field."
That camera's next stop: a remote Antarctic outpost, where it will left to take two-month's worth of time-lapse images of geological features in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Dickson's trip to the Dry Valleys this December will mark his seventh field season and Antarctica, and his sixth season using automated camera stations to gather scientific data.
Those stations are giving scientists from Brown and elsewhere a view of geological change in the Dry Valleys that can't be glimpsed any other way. The cameras are not only unveiling new details about the changing climate on Earth, but also offering insight into what conditions might be like in the similar frozen deserts of Mars
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141120183608.htm

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