We present a novel method to track fluctuations in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) using a cluster of mini-radiosondes. Each radiosonde is lightweight, expendable and carried by biodegradable balloons. This system collects statistics of turbulence fluctuations in the ABL and warm clouds within it. The first operational prototype of the radiosonde cluster developed at POLITO was tested in several field campaigns from November 2022 to September 2024. These campaigns, which included six cluster launch experiments, were conducted in collaboration with CNR-INRIM, MET-OFFICE, NCAS, ARPA Piemonte, ARPA-FVG, and OAvdA (see Fig. 1). The system provides critical insights for modeling ABL dynamics and dispersion, a major source of uncertainty in climate and meteorological simulations [1].

Figure 1: In-field experiments with the radiosonde cluster network. LoRa P2P radio transmission, 12 km range, 868 MHz, 0.2 Hz data acquisition frequency. Left: radiosonde trajectories. Middle: vertical profiles of temperature and mean Brunt-Vaisala frequency from 3 radiosondes. The purple color indicates positive temperature gradients, while green indicates negative ones. Right: wind speed, magnetic field, and acceleration fluctuation spectra. A) Alpine environment, St. Barthelemy, Aosta, Italy, November 2023. B) Rural near-maritime Atlantic coast, Chilbolton, UK, July 2023, WESCON campaign. C) Subalpine region, Udine, Italy, June 2024. D) Rural near-maritime Atlantic coast, Chilbolton, UK, September 2024. Ground-level wind speeds: A: 1 m/s, B: 17 m/s, C: 0.5 m/s, D: 10 m/s.

Each radiosonde is a radioprobe board [1, 2] mounted on a biodegradable balloon [3] filled with a helium-air mixture, allowing a float time of several hours. It measures air temperature, pressure, humidity, and four vector quantities (position, velocity, acceleration, and Earth's magnetic field) along each trajectory (Fig. 1). Passive tracking of multiphase cloud parcels provides a multi-point view of flow structures. Recent experiments have explored turbulent dispersion analysis using a distance neighbor graph algorithm [4], addressing aspects of atmospheric turbulence not previously measured in field observations. The system can advance models for cloud microphysics and turbulence schemes for atmospheric tracer dispersion [5]. Our methodology uses high-frequency atmospheric data and improves understanding of turbulence. This enables advances in cloud modeling, weather prediction, and climate simulation. The biodegradable balloon has a volume of ~40 liters and weighs ~18 grams. Optimizing the size and weight of the circuit board (halving both dimensions) will reduce the balloon volume by 30%, allowing for simultaneous deployment of swarms of ~100 mini-radiosondes. The future radioprobe will have sensors for VOCs, greenhouse gases, and UV radiation integrated into the PCB to expand its use cases. An energy harvesting module will extend the lifetime of the probe.

1. Abdunabiev S. et al., Measurement 224, 113879 (2024)

2. Paredes et al., Sensors 21, 1351 (2021)

3. Basso et al., Mat. Chem. Phys. 253, 123411 (2020)

4. Richardson, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 110, 709 (1926)

5. Mirza et al., Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 150, 761 (2024)

How to cite: Abdunabiev, S., Gallino, N., and Tordella, D.: Innovative Lagrangian Radiosonde Clusters for ABL Observations, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-3546, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-3546, 2025.

Spores are the survival and dissemination units of fungi. Many are designed for optimal airborne dispersal while maintaining long-term survival. Depending on the chemical and structural nature of their walls, they are highly resistant to extreme temperatures and UV radiation. For example, Botrytis cinerea conidia stored dry at -80°C are still able to germinate after more than 20 years in storage. Given their anemochorous nature and resistance to abiotic factors, it would therefore be possible for spores of pathogenic fungi to be aeroported through the stratosphere. However, little is known about the spread of pathogenic fungi in high-altitude airspace.

In order to investigate the presence of fungal spores in the stratosphere and explore the diversity of viable and non-cultivable fungi, we designed a low-cost sampling device capable of sampling particles in the stratosphere. It consists in a sealed polystyrene box with two ports on the top and bottom sides, allowing air circulation. A rotating arm sampler spins in the resulting airflow, with four sticks coated with petroleum jelly. The opening of the ports is controlled by mobile covers driven by servomotors, managed by an Arduino Uno microcontroller connected to a high-pressure pressure sensor. Moreover, an on-board radiosonde continuously transmits GPS position, relative humidity, and temperature data. An internal camera captures the opening, closing, and sampling processes during the desired altitude segment. Additionally, a control box, that never opens during flight,  monitors potential contamination below the stratosphere.

Both the measurement and control boxes are sterilized under UV-C, sealed and attached to a meteorologic radiosonding balloon. Upon reaching an altitude of 12,000 meters, the covers open, and airborne particles are collected. Once the balloon bursts (at around 35,000 m; -63°C), a parachute deploys during the descent, and the cover closes at 12,000 meters.  The prompt recovery of the sample at landing is assisted by a specifically dedicated mobile app, that extrapolates the descent trajectory and guides the crew to the expected landing location.

Five test flights between October 2023 and June 2024 up to 35,000 meters altitude, allowed us to optimize and validate the device, the sampling conditions, and the sample recovery procedures and analysis. The collected samples were both cultured on fungal medium and prepared for deep DNA sequencing. The control box remained sterile, confirming the absence of contamination. Furthermore, several species of cultivable fungi were identified in the sample, demonstrating the viability of spores despite low pressure and temperature, while the DNA sequencing revealed the presence of many species, including exotic ones.

This setup opens the way to routine monitoring of stratospheric airborne fungi spores and other biological aerosols, in view of a better understanding of their dispersal and survival.

How to cite: Kasparian, J., Leoni, S., Devisme, O., Hervo, M., Romanens, G., and Gindro, K.: Sampling spores and microorganisms in the stratosphere, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-3756, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-3756, 2025.

Rodents pose a significant threat to agriculture, causing extensive damage to crops, infrastructure, and ecosystem health. This pressing issue necessitates innovative, sustainable management solutions. SPYCE, a rodent-monitoring device (RMD), is designed to provide a flexible, adaptable solution for rodent detection, monitoring, and behavior-analysis. Developed as part of the MED4PEST project, which focuses on advancing ecologically based rodent management by reducing reliance on synthetic pest-control methods and promoting sustainable, eco-friendly farming systems tailored to the Mediterranean-region. SPYCE’s modular, customizable configuration allows users to select sensors based on operational requirements and budget constraints, emphasizing open accessibility, tailored functionality, and cost-effective deployment.

SPYCE is a T-shaped device designed for flexible deployment at greenhouse entry points and fenced agricultural fields. Its design allows rodents to enter and exit freely, facilitating precise monitoring. The T-joint structure includes a horizontal base pipe equipped with PIR sensors at each entrance to detect movement. A housing at the top of the vertical pipe contains critical sensors such as an ultrasonic sensor, ultrasonic microphone, and infrared camera oriented downward toward the T-joint, all integrated with a Raspberry-Pi. A mmWave-radar sensor monitors external movement signatures. A temperature-humidity sensor collects environmental data, while a protective top cover shields the electronics from dust and water.

The system firmware, developed in Python, supports three operational modes for various monitoring needs. In Mode-1, PIR sensors at the entrances activate the system, which waits for ultrasonic-sensor confirmation to initiate data collection. In Mode-2, the ultrasonic sensor detects motion at the central joint, directly triggering data acquisition. In Mode-3, the infrared camera operates continuously, detecting motion through background changes and activating other sensors when a rodent is detected. Across all modes, temperature-humidity data are recorded at regular intervals. Additionally, separate code records movement signatures using the mmWave radar. SPYCE’s modular design adapts to diverse operational requirements while maintaining accuracy and reliability in data collection. Furthermore, SPYCE is open-source, with hardware designs, scripts, and implementation details available on GitHub (https://github.com/superworld-cyens/MED4PEST), enabling researchers and practitioners to replicate and customize SPYCE for rodent monitoring.

SPYCE is currently deployed at pilot sites in Greece and Turkey, actively collecting rodent-activity data. This data will serve as the foundation for developing a multi-modal deep-learning model capable of detecting, counting, and analyzing rodent behavior with high precision. Additionally, multi-modal anomaly-detection techniques will investigate behavioral changes in rodents under EBRM and non-EBRM conditions, providing valuable insights. These pilot deployments will validate SPYCE’s potential as an effective tool for assessing EBRM strategies. This work can also extend to broader rodent-management applications, including population estimation, behavioral analysis, and ecological monitoring.

Funding: This work is part of MED4PEST, funded under the PRIMA Programme, an Art.185 initiative co-funded by Horizon-2020, the EU’s Research and Innovation Programme. Additional funding was provided by the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation, Greece; the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey; the EU Horizon-2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant No. 739578); and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination, and Development.

How to cite: Padubidri, C., Louloudakis, I., Daliakopoulos, I., Esin, S., and Kamilaris, A.: SPYCE: A Multi-Modal Rodent Monitoring Device for Enhanced Detection, Monitoring, and Behavior Analysis, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13702, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13702, 2025.

The development of new affordable sensors, and the ability to log high-resolution data for long periods of time can potentially revolutionize environmental sciences. Collecting high-resolution spatiotemporal data requires sensor grids that are often costly and not necessarily modular enough to fit a specific experimental objective. These are limiting factors that can be solved using open-source hardware. In our Open Digital Environmental Lab, we develop and integrate complex sensor arrays into our research that simultaneously measure multiple parameters, such as water content and CO₂  and O₂  concentrations. We rely on integrating IoT (Internet of Things) concepts and aim to meet not only our current research goals, but also to enable new capabilities at a fraction of traditional sensor costs but with similar accuracy. Our vision is that open-source sensors will: (1) “Democratize science” by reducing cost limitations, and (2) Be game-changers for measuring environmental parameters with the ability to capture process-related heterogeneity. At the conference, we will present various projects, ranging from lab-oriented devices to field networks for real-time monitoring of soil and river parameters that allow new modeling and mechanistic understandings.

How to cite: Levintal, E., Freiman, E., Nguyen, T. T., Orozco, D., Norman, T., Kahsu, R., and Altman, A.: The Open Digital Environmental Lab, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-14559, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-14559, 2025.

The UK Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure (FDRI) is a £38 million investment from the UK Government to support transformative research and applications on flood and drought resilience. The infrastructure will consist of a combination of in-situ monitoring infrastructure, an overarching digital infrastructure to support telemetry, analytics, and data integration, and an extensive portfolio of capacity development, training and community building activities.

FDRI aims to be a state-of-the-art infrastructure that supports transformative research. This means that innovation sits at the heart of the infrastructure – both technological innovation using novel and emerging technologies, but also social innovation to explore novel arrangements for data collection, analysis, and knowledge co-production.

Open hardware provides unprecedented opportunities to support such innovation, not only as a source of new sensing and data processing technologies and setups, but also as a catalyst for engaging makers, inventors, entrepeneurs, citizen scientist and other innovation communities in FDRI.

Here we give an overview of the vision and implementation strategy of FDRI, as well as the specific opportunities for engagement, from early experimentation and prototyping to contributing to designing for cost-effectiveness, accuracy, robustness, longevity and long-term sustainability.

How to cite: Buytaert, W., Dussaillant, A., and Veness, W.: Open Hardware in the UK Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure (FDRI), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18431, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18431, 2025.

Measuring evaporation through Bowen ratios requires measuring a wet and a dry air temperature, something that is challenging to reliably accomplish in outdoor field conditions. In the context of forest evaporation, the desire to estimate Bowen ratios as a function of height (e.g., to partition evaporation above and below the canopy) adds another dimension of complexity to this measurement challenge.

As part of the Ruijsdael Observatory in the Loobos, Netherlands, we aim to continuously measure evaporation throughout a forest profile, using a dry and a wetted fiber-optic table along a 40 m tower to measure temperature profiles using Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS). Previous studies have used continuous pumping with relatively large flow rates to ensure wetness, but this is not feasible for long term installations because of large water volume requirements.

In this contribution a smart and open-source solution for keeping a wet temperature wet and a dry temperature dry over a 40 m profile is presented. Two peristaltic pumps are regulated using two microcontrollers that modulate the pumping rate along different environmental conditions. For instance, no pumping could be needed at nighttime since there is negligible evaporation and pumping is stopped at low temperatures to prevent frost damage. A capacitive method is presented to attempt to quantify wetness, tank levels are monitored, and solutions for recycling water to limit the water volume requirements are introduced. Microcontrollers are connected to WiFi to enable convenient monitoring from the office.

With this contribution we hope to contribute to generalized solutions to measure evaporation or, in general, to inspire on methods about how to keep hydrological sensors wet or dry.

How to cite: Vis, G. and Coenders-Gerrits, M.: Automated wetting of a fiber-optic cable for forest evaporation partitioning, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18763, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18763, 2025.