Four+ Years of Measurements from the Mendenhall Glacier Terminus

We describe the instrumentation, power, communications, and lessons learned from ongoing four+ years of measurements at the terminus of Mendenhall Glacier. In this presentation we focus on the most successful microserver deployment. The microserver is a simple rugged computer with a radio modem that can survive and operate outdoors in harsh environments like Antarctica. The system is called a microserver because of the networking capabilities, particularly as it may act as anchor points for localized lightweight sensor networks. SEAMONSTER, the SouthEast Alaska MOnitoring Network for Science, Technology, Education and Research, is a demonstration sensor web effort. The microserver design for SEAMONSTER is intended to provide general capabilities that could be used in harsh environments specifically for cryospheric observations. At the Mendenhall terminus the observations included meteorologic data and repeat digital photography. Other SEAMONSTER stations included snow accumulation and density, precision GPS, seismic, water pressure, and other measurements. Power generation at the Mendenhall deployment is both solar and wind.