Monitoring Glacial Advance and Retreat of the Skaftafellsjökull

Glacier, Iceland

Team Members:Mr. Bryce Carmichael

Ms. Amber Smith

Mentors:Dr. Sridhar Anandakrishnan

Mr. Peter Burkett

Overview

• Introduction• Importance• Proposal• Background

Information– The Skaftafellsjökull Glacier– gPhoto2– Linux ts7300 Board– Nikon D50 SLR camera

• Methodology– Crontab– Shell script

• Preliminary Findings• Results• Discussion• Future Work• References• Acknowledgments

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Introduction

Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS)

• Science and technology center instituted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2005

• Lead institution located at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas

• Main focus is to understand the role of polar ice sheets in global climate

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Importance

• Expensive to fly to all the glaciers and conduct drill ice cores all the way to the bed.

• Harsh weather conditions make extended on-site field work difficult

• Limited equipment prevents monitoring all glaciers at the same time

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Importance

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• Melting of polar ice-sheets can initiate sea-level rise. This means more coastal flooding, which in turn causes an increase in property damage and population dislocation

• Monitoring outlet glaciers for advance and retreat can give an indication of ice-sheet behavior and contributions to sea-level

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Sea Level Rise Maps of the Southeast region of the United States (Haskell Indian Nations University - CReSIS)

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Proposal

• Create an autonomous image capturing device that will monitor the movement of the Skaftafellsjökull Glacier, Iceland

• The device will be able to withstand all weather conditions

• Images of the glacier will be sent back to Penn State where they will be displayed in the Earth and Mineral Science museum

Background Information

The Skaftafellsjökull Glacier

• Located in Iceland

• First explored in 1754

• 1446 meters above sea level

• Situated along an active volcano

• Has retreated rapidly in the past few years

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Background Information

gPhoto2:

• The successor of gPhoto• Uses as a set of software

applications and libraries • Retrieves images from

cameras and has the ability to upload the images to remote computers

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Background Information

Linux ts7300 Board

• The system's utilities and libraries usually come from the GNU operating system

• Used for a wide variety of computer hardware, video game systems, arcade games, and embedded devices

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Background Information

Nikon D50 SLR

• 6.1 Megapixels

• Size: 5.2 × 4 × 3"

• Weight: 1 lb and 3 oz (540g)

• 2 inch LCD Screen

• Storage: SD/MMC Card

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Methodology• The first step was to power up the ts7300 and connect it to

the Mac

• The terminal was opened, and all necessary files and folders were created on the Linux board

• The user must log on to the Linux board by typing “ssh root@192.168.0.51” and the respective password

• A separate directory called “Images,” was required to be made by using the “mkdir” command

• Type “vi” at the command line in the home shell, followed by the name of the script that is being created

Methodology• Download and unzip the

installation files of GPhoto2 onto the Linux board

• Command, “gPhoto2 --list-ports,” checked and listed all active ports of the ts7300

• Connected camera located using the command, “gPhoto2 --auto-detect”,

• Periodically remove images by adding an “rm” line to the gPhoto2 shell script to make room for new images

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Cronjob

• A linux utility which allows tasks to be scheduled and run at specified times

• Run by the cron daemon

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Shell Script

• Created using the vi editor

• Tells Crontab what operations to perform

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Preliminary Findings

• The autonomous image-capturing device was created successfully

• Captures, uploads, and removes photographs from the camera’s central memory to the ts7300 Linux board

• For testing, camera was programmed to capture images every minute for an entire hour

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Discussion

• Use the newest version of gPhoto2 or find a more reliable software that is capable of performing all the functions needed

• Instead of the vi editor, possibly use a different script editor, such as Emacs

• A Linux board that has more memory

Future Work

• Incorporate a wireless device into this system to reduce the wired connections and ease communication

• Attach the all-weather case to the tripod

• Build additional autonomous imaging devices to place at other glaciers

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References• "Crontab - Quick Reference." Admin's Choice. 2007. 14 June 2008

<http://www.adminschoice.com/docs/crontab.htm>.

• Hekman, Jessica Perry. Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference. 1st ed. Sebastopol: O'Reilly and Associates, Inc., 1997. 1-160.

• Kochan, Stephen G., and Patrick H. Wood. Unix Shell Programming.Revised ed. Hayden Books, 1990. 5-148.

• Ray, Deborah S., and Eric J. Ray. Unix. 2nd ed. Berkeley: Peachpit P, 2003. 9-56.

• "Sea Level Rise Maps and GIS Data > Southeast USA." CReSIS. Haskell Indian Nations University. 23 July 2008 <https://www.cresis.ku.edu/research/data/sea_level_rise/h_southeast-usa.html>.

• "Skaftafellsjokull." 14 July 2008 <http://www.mit.edu/~pjsugi/skaftafellsjokull.html>.

• "The SnæFellsjöKull Glacier." UMHVERFISSTOFNUN. 18 Feb. 2004. 14 July 2008 <http://english.ust.is/Snaefellsjokullnationalpark/TheGlacier/>.

• The UNIX Forum. 13 Jan. 2008. 10 June 2008 <http://www.unix.com>.

• Waugh, Tim, Hans U. Niedermann, and Michael J. Rensing. "The GPhoto2 Manual." GPhoto. 28 Mar. 2008. GNU. 9 June 2008 <http://www.gphoto.org/>.

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Acknowledgments

• The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS)• Dr. Sridhar Anandakrishnan • Mr. Peter G. Burkett• Dr. Linda B. Hayden• Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) 2008• The Pennsylvania State University• Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Office of

Graduate Equity – Dr. Lyons• The National Science Foundation (NSF)• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

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Questions?

Contact Information:

Bryce L. Carmichael: blcarmichael@mail.ecsu.edu

Amber E. Smith: asmith89@mail.nccu.edu