Many people in the United States are disconnected from their environment: urban residents spend 90% of their time indoors inside confined climate-controlled spaces. In addition to being physically separated from the natural environment, much of human understanding of the world’s environment is inferred from data collected by satellites orbiting 22,000 miles away. In contrast, in-situ environmental sensor systems are physically accessible, location specific, and essential for correcting and validating weather measurements. However, present options for in-situ systems are mostly limited to expensive, proprietary commercial data loggers with inflexible data access protocols.

Wind chimes are an excellent example of something that translates an unseen environmental phenomenon into an observable, informative, and aesthetic signal. Our awareness of the natural processes outside our window can be enhanced just by hearing the sound of the chimes without the need for visual attention. WeatherChimes stems from this idea, and follows ample examples of environmental data sonification and alternative visualization projects and strategies.

WeatherChimes is an open-source Arduino-based device and software infrastructure that collects local weather and other environmental sensor data, and stores it on a cloud database. Scientists and artists alike can use this tool to obtain and interact with environmental data in new and innovative ways, as well as collaborate remotely. Transforming data collection processes of environmental sensors into Internet of Things (IoT) compatible formats opens new doors into both understanding and interacting with natural phenomena. WeatherChimes enables low-cost, near real-time access to in-situ sensor data anywhere with an internet connection and realtime interactivity in MaxMSP. The environmental sensor data being transformed into auditory soundscapes through sonification processes or creative animations are examples of how users have translated data into alternative sensory signals from the WeatherChimes system.

Specifications:

  • Measures soil dielectric (volumetric water content), electrical conductivity, temperature

  • Measures air temperature and humidity

  • Measures infrared, full spectrum, and visible light

  • Saves data to SD

  • Onboard RTC and power switching relays for power savings

  • WiFi and 4G LTE access to upload data to MongoDB server

  • Realtime access to sensors in MaxMSP for data sonification and visualization

Utilizing environmental data as a means for artistic interaction is still somewhat novel and under-explored, but has a growing tradition. The sonification of data allows researchers to detect new patterns and structures, particularly those that emerge over periods of time, in ways that may not be obvious to our eyes when interpreting a graph at a glance. Traditional visual data displays may be effective for monitoring and identifying trends and features, but require our undivided attention. Auditory “displays” like heart rate monitors enable us to perceive important information in the background or from another room. As an alternative to traditional data representations, data can be visualized and sonified with artistic or communicative purposes in mind to allow a broader audience to explore data and experience phenomena through creative expression.

My lab is a key collaborator on the NSF (grant no. 2052972) Focused CoPe: Building Community Sensor Networks for Coastal Hazards and Climate Change Impacts in Southeast Alaska. This helps to fund the WeatherChimes program, to work with the Sitka Sound Science Center, Chilkoot Indian Association, and Tlingit & Haida communities to conduct community outreach and collaborative STEAM education events relating environmental monitoring to music and art over a 5-year period. Our first series of workshops started in November 2022.

WeatherChimes In the News

Juneau Local TV station KTOO featured WeatherChimes and our collaboration with communities in Alaska.