dc.description.abstract | This thesis describes the development and testing of a new irradiance sensor. Light from
the sun affects all life on earth, and recent studies give reason to believe that some
life might even react to the microscopic levels of light found in the Arctic polar night.
Commercial light meters are not sensitive enough to register the light in these dark
periods of the year, thus the need for a new sensor has emerged.
During a field campaign in Ny-Ålesund in January 2014, conducted as part of the Marine
Night Research project, a prototype of the sensor was first tested. The results were
promising, and work began to develop a more complete software system that is able to
measure the light environment of the Arctic for extended periods of time. The development
of this sensor system, and initial tests, are described in this thesis.
This part of the project ended with a working system that is to be tested on the next
field campaign of the Marine Night project, in January 2015. A manual has been
written for the users, and is included as part of this thesis. Also included is the code
documentation, intended for the future developers of the system. | |