The Sentinel Dehesa: A virtual tour of an ICOS Research Ecosystem Station

Scientists from different disciplines (e.g., eddy covariance fluxes, remote sensing, or ecology) work together at long-term ecosystem stations to monitor ecosystem responses to climate change. These stations are heavily equipped with automated sensors that continuously measure, and they support regular campaigns in which scientists take numerous samples and measurements. Networks of these stations have provided a critical understanding of ecosystems' responses to extreme events and other consequences of climate change, and therefore, society must be aware of the relevance of this kind of infrastructure. However, presenting these stations to the general public or students is complex, as they may be located in isolated areas, and hosting large numbers of visitors can perturb the ecosystem, affecting observations and their interpretation. Furthermore, the diversity of topics and knowledge gathered in these stations can overwhelm communication.

In this context, virtual reality offers unmatched advantages to bring the general public to these research stations from anywhere. We present the “Sentinel Dehesa” virtual tour, a virtual reality environment of the ecosystem station at Majadas de Tiétar, in Cáceres, Spain, which is included in the International Carbon Observatory System (ICOS). The station monitors a Mediterranean savanna, an agroecosystem characterized by its sustainability but jeopardized by climate change. The station continuously measures surface-atmosphere energy, carbon, and water fluxes using micrometeorological and eddy covariance techniques. Furthermore, remote sensing scientists conduct regular campaigns to measure vegetation spectral and biophysical properties and relate them to satellite imagery. In this virtual environment, visitors can learn about the sensors and measurements performed on the site as they move through different information points that provide multilingual content.

This virtual tour is available both for VR goggles and web browsers (https://speclab.csic.es/en/) and has been used for educational and outreach activities, attracting the interest of secondary students and being highly valued by their teachers.