Monthly Archives: July 2015

Friday favorites: Anything odd?

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Margaret Kosmala

This chipping sparrow seems to enjoy hanging out on the color chart near one of the cameras at Harvard Forest. We use the color chart to figure out what exactly the camera is seeing and how to automatically process the … Continue reading →

Posted in Camera images | Tagged forest, Friday favorites, Harvard Forest | Leave a comment

First week review

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Margaret Kosmala

Season Spotter has now been underway for over a week and I’ve been delighted with the response. Thank you for your time and interest! After a few hiccups early on, you should now be having a fairly smooth experience. (Those … Continue reading →

Posted in Project report | Tagged volunteers | Leave a comment

Why phenology is cool

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Andrew Richardson

I have long been fascinated by the passing of the seasons. I grew up in Canada: winter was cold and snowy, spring was lush and green, summer was hot and humid, and in autumn the forest exploded in a riot … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged Canada, changing seasons | Leave a comment

Phenology in Panama!

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Carolyn Gigot

After a Boston winter spent sorting through canopy images from the Neotropics — clicking past magenta cecropica flowers and long green branches drooping into the water — it was incredible to see the ‘barrocolorado’ PhenoCam camera from the other end … Continue reading →

Posted in Introductions, Research | Tagged Barro Colorado Island, El Niño, Panama, Smithsonian | Leave a comment

Automated image processing

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Margaret Kosmala

The PhenoCam network has more than 200 cameras taking pictures of landscapes every day. These are the images we’re asking you to look at in Season Spotter, because there is information in them that a computer cannot easily pull out. … Continue reading →

Posted in Research | Tagged Bartlett Forest, GCC, PhenoCam | 10 Comments

Friday favorites: Tundra twilight

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Margaret Kosmala

The PhenoCam network includes some cameras overlooking arctic tundra — areas that are typically too harsh to support trees. Instead these landscapes support small shrubs, grasses, sedges, moss, and lichen. This camera catches a slow winter sunset near Imnavait Creek … Continue reading →

Posted in Camera images | Tagged Alaska, Friday favorites, tundra | Leave a comment

Doing something about climate change

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Sandra Henderson

My name is Sandra Henderson and I am the Director of Citizen Science at the National Ecological Observatory Network in Boulder, Colorado. For the past 25 years or so, I have mostly been working climate change education projects and activities. … Continue reading →

Posted in Introductions | Tagged NEON | Leave a comment

A brief history of the PhenoCam camera network

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Andrew Richardson

I’m Andrew Richardson and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. It was ten years ago that we first put a networked, digital camera – a “webcam” – on one of our … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Introductions | Tagged PhenoCam | 1 Comment

Welcome to Season Spotter!

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Margaret Kosmala

We invite you to join us in understanding how changing climate affects plants across continents. Who are we? We’re a group of scientists and educators at Harvard University and the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON for short) who are interested … Continue reading →