September: Orange
The Phenocam network is an ecological observatory with hundreds of automated RGB cameras installed on research towers around the world, many of which have been operating for over a decade. The millions of images collected at 30-min intervals are available in an open source format and used by scientists across the globe to study phenology: recurring plant life cycle events like leaf-out, flowering, and senescence. By looking at color data in Phenocam images, especially “canopy greenness,” scientists learn about the state and health of a landscape over time and compare ecosystem state with other measurements of ecosystem functioning, including carbon uptake and evapotranspiration fluxes.
In this three-channel video, created in collaboration with Dr. Christopher Still, Professor of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University, I look for moments of color unity among 24 Phenocam streams in the Northwest US and Canada, pausing when the landscapes all turn the same shade. I am especially interested in the orange that appears cyclically during wildfire season. The soundtrack for September: Orange combines field recordings from Oregon forests with sonification of canopy greenness data.
This project was supported in part by the Patricia Valian Center for the Creative Arts and fluxART. Algorithmic data processing contributed by Eric Corwin.
Images were provided by the PhenoCam Network, with support from the NSF, USDA, DOE, USGS, the Northeastern States Research Cooperative, and the USA National Phenology Network. Special thanks to the PhenoCam site PIs and technicians for sharing their data.
