Questions tagged [instrumentation]

Applied to questions about the use of instruments in earth sciences.

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What is this "crystal ball" located at a meteorological station?

I found what looks like a "crystal ball" in a meteorological station in the Vlădeasa mountains (Romania). What is its purpose?
andi's user avatar
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17 votes
8 answers
5k views

Ways to make a "How hard is it raining?" detector for personal use?

Is there a consensus on the "heaviness" of rain? and Relationship between Probability of Precipitation and Predicted Amount of Rain remind me of a gedankenexperiment of mine. I like to ...
uhoh's user avatar
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14 votes
5 answers
4k views

How are barometric pressure measurements traceable over centuries to 100 parts per million accuracy?

The BBC News item Barometric pressure in London 'highest in 300 years' at least begins with Overnight, Sunday into Monday, London's Heathrow Airport recorded a barometric pressure of 1,049.6 ...
uhoh's user avatar
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14 votes
3 answers
350 views

What are the scientific consequences of the loss of the Nereus submersible?

The Nereus submersible was lost at sea while exploring the Kermadec Trench at 10,000 meters during a May 2014 research cruise. During its life, it was planned for the ROV to help investigate the ...
arkaia's user avatar
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14 votes
2 answers
2k views

Characterizing earthquakes using accelerometer data

Is there a way to use accelerometer data to characterize earthquake intensity, e.g., on Richter scale?
Michael Rogers's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
5k views

Using accelerometer as a seismograph

I'm using ADXL345 accelerometer with Raspberry Pi to build a seismograph. I've successfully hooked it up and can plot the accelerometer data in three axis. Is there any way to express these data in ...
yode's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
2k views

How significant is a 5-10 mb drop in pressure over a 20 minute period?

I would be interested in seeing how significant a 5-10 mb drop in pressure would be at the surface, and 80 m in the air. The temporal scale would be 20 minutes. If the pressure starts to steadily ...
climatefreak's user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why are CO2 sensors so expensive when CO sensors aren't?

Please excuse me if Earth Science is not the correct place to ask this question. I read a New York Times article about increasing $\small\mathsf{CO_2}$ levels in the atmosphere: "Carbon in Atmosphere ...
hwmartin's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
496 views

What are these Gizmos at Izaña Atmospheric Research Center in Spain?

This tweet from the account of the Centro de Investigación Atmosférica de Izaña (AEMET) http://izana.aemet.es Izaña Atmospheric Research Center (AEMET) shows images of meteorological instruments ...
uhoh's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
114 views

What is the error in bathymetric observations in the presence of vegetation?

How can we determine the error associated with bathymetric measurements when we survey over submerged vegetation? Let's say we are using single-beam echo-sounder over a patch of Posidonia, what are ...
arkaia's user avatar
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7 votes
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Are there any DIY conductivity sensors that will hold calibration for long periods? {multiple months}

We've just published our DIY underwater loggers: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/2/530 and the #1 thing we would like to add to the platform is conductivity. The loggers themselves will easily run ...
Ed Mallon's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
356 views

How is the specific heat of a wet bulb determined?

I am quite new to the psychrometry and the study of humidity, and I'm currently learning about the dry-bulb wet-bulb thermometry. As far as my understanding goes, the wet bulb is connected to a source ...
Pritt Balagopal's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
380 views

How can I calculate the sensitivity of a seismometer?

I would like to know if a specific seismometer can measure 1 micron/sec velocity. I have a few specs from the datasheet but I'm not a seismologist and am trying to figure out how to relate the specs ...
NaN's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
3k views

How is relative humidity determined from a wet and dry bulb readings?

The question What is the second thermometer in the image from the Esperanza Antarctic temperature record? shows what might be a wet/dry bulb setup. I've given one to a friend to measure humidity for ...
uhoh's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
235 views

How sensitive are typical seismometers?

NASA recently landed a seismometer on Mars, with what sounds an impressive detection ability, with press reports gushing it is "able to detect vibrations smaller than a hydrogen atom." A more ...
JCRM's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
141 views

Is there a certification process for automated weather stations?

I'm in the market for a new automated weather station and of course there's a glut of them on the internet. I mostly will be using the data for myself and my own amusement but do plan to submit ...
Wxboyajm's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
148 views

What is a Rotating Shadowband Radiometer, and how does it work?

This answer explains that the device labeled "B" in the photo below is a "Ultraviolet Multifilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer." What is a Rotating Shadowband Radiometer, and how does it work? ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
572 views

What does a floating mercury barometer look like? How does it work and how is buoyancy used?

This answer to How are barometric pressure measurements traceable over centuries to 100 parts per million accuracy? describes a floating mercury barometer, and mentions that some employed a Vernier ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
726 views

How do meteorologists accurately measure outdoor air temperature? There's sunlight, local trapping of air, radiant heat, precipitation

I'd like to know how the state-of-the-art meteorological direct, localized measurements of the temperature of the air is measured. If you put a thermometer in sunlight it may read high. If you put it ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Is sterescope still used to do cartography with orthophotography?

I used this tool at my degree a couple of lusters ago to do cartography with aerial orthophotos. We used it on cartography and geomorphology subjets. Source: gumtree.com The method consists ...
user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
94 views

What are those precipitation and water droplet characterization instruments called that they put on meteorological aircraft? How do they work?

A long time ago I did some reading on Mie scattering and atmospheric particulate counting and I got sidetracked on raindrop characterization. I remember reading about light and laser based ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
723 views

How did they know that there was a "desert tsunami" in a Death Valley cave after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake near the southwest of Mexico?

Phys.org's story from September 23, 2022 entitled Mexico earthquake triggers 'desert tsunami' 1,500 miles away in Death Valley cave includes the following: About five minutes after the 7.6 magnitude ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
898 views

Which particles are classified as PM2.5? How exactly is this defined?

Question When discussing "PM2.5", is there any standardized understanding of which particles are or are not included? Is it everything that's 2.5 microns and smaller? Or Everything between 2....
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
112 views

Cluster of cow burps now mapped; which satellites contribute to GHGSat's high-resolution maps of ppb levels of methane emission? How do they do it?

CNN's April 30, 2022 Planet-warming emissions from cow burps have been seen from space begins: The emissions were detected by environmental data company GHGSat's high-resolution satellites in ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 7,148
4 votes
2 answers
308 views

Does the Earth produces measurable gravity waves?

Does the Earth exhibit measurable gravity waves? Note: I'm not asking about gravitational waves. Some recent experiments looking at low-frequency (3$\times 10^{-5}$Hz) accelerometer data are showing ...
Sparks's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
219 views

What are these Gizmos at Mauna Loa Observatory?

Artist Rosten Wu's Vimeo channel has a video title Bridging Time and there is discussion about the Keeling Curve and the site where it all began in Hawaii. In the video there is a shot of a weather ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
150 views

What is this upside-down transparent funnel-shaped item on a weather monitoring station?

I snapped this photo with my cell phone at a fishing harbor in northern Taiwan. I recognize a weather vane + anemometer, and I suspect the two large, dark things at the tops of poles might be ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
290 views

Which type of seismic sensors usually used in Earthquake Early Warning?

As I'm a newbie in seismology and related area, I would like to know which type of seismic sensors usually used in earthquake early warning systems?
Ehsan Maiqani's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
46 views

What instrumentation and/or measurement is likely being shown in this video of giant Siberian craters/sinkholes?

The RT video The Permafrost Mystery: scientists explore giant Yamal Sinkhole (with English subtitles) shows scientists exploring the formation. In one scene after about ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
169 views

How to find instrumental response for a seismic station

I received seismic data for which I would like to remove the instrumental response. The only information I have is that they were recorded on a Trillium broadband seismometer with a cutoff period of ...
SeisMike's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
544 views

How does a whirling hygrometer work, how does it differ from static dry/wet bulb thermometer, and how to obtain humidity from its readings?

Answers to my previous question How is relative humidity determined from a wet and dry bulb readings? provide equations for converting the two temperature measurements to a relative humidity. In ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 7,148
2 votes
1 answer
422 views

What is a Micro-Aethalometer; how do portable Black Carbon (BC) Monitors work?

The screenshot below is from MIT's Erik Velasco's presentation Particle exposure and dosage on public transport. My question is about the small, portable Black Carbon (BC) monitor. From my reading, ...
uhoh's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
441 views

Atmospheric visibility measuring device

I have this project at university where I have to make an atmospheric visibility measuring device using Arduino. I talked with my teacher and he said that I should do something like this, using an ...
Darius's user avatar
  • 21
2 votes
0 answers
22 views

How well can they localize the sources of these marsquakes using only a single seismometer? Does being in the shadow zone of the core help or hinder?

Phys.org's April 23, 2022 Two largest marsquakes to date recorded from planet's far side links to The Far Side of Mars: Two Distant Marsquakes Detected by InSight which contains the image below. ...
uhoh's user avatar
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