Arduino: weather station for the field researcher on a budget

Environmental data loggers are often needed in laboratories, field research projects and long term scientific monitoring. They are important for obtaining data on temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and other abiotic factors. This type of data can be collected with existing high-cost meteorological equipment. Therefore, our goal in project was to build a reliable and cheap weather station. Arduino is a popular computing platform that is open sourced and is known for being relatively inexpensive and reliable. Being open source also gives us flexibility to record and export data in many different formats. The Arduino microcontroller is compatible with various sensors, which enables us to utilize very accurate barometers (air pressure), thermometers (temperature), and psychrometers (humidity). In one project, we wired together the barometer and psychrometer for outdoor use. This inexpensive weather station allows us to record selected environmental data in multiple location around Stockton. In a second project, we wired together three waterproof thermometers for monitoring water tanks temperature in the lab. In total, our project came up to a total around $54 for each setup, whereas other weather stations easily cost over $150. Although we already produced reliable arduino weather stations, we are planning improvements such as including wifi data transmission and solar panels to charge batteries. The open source aspect allows us to easily add to our setup additional sensors or upgrade existing ones