Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Inexpensive Time-Lapse Digital Cameras For Studying Transient Meteorological Phenomena: Dust Devils And Playa Flooding, Ralph D. Lorenz, Brian Jackson, Jason W. Barnes

Brian Jackson

The authors describe the design and performance of inexpensive and compact time-lapse cameras suitable for field deployment in remote locations for long periods and their application to studying two time-variable meteorological phenomena in arid regions: desert dust devils and transient flooding of playa lakes. The camera units (with a total parts cost of ∼$80) are based around commercial “point and shoot” digital cameras, storing ∼1500 images on a solid-state memory card over a period between an hour to several months powered by alkaline batteries. A microcontroller can trigger image acquisition based on sensor inputs or at regular intervals. Some example …