Using underground sensors to track Cicada emergence #Cicada #Cicadas @chemDrV @eteq
Astrophysicist Erik Tollerud and Chemistry Professor Marie van Staveren have set up an interesting experiment in Baltimore, Maryland. Broods of cicadas come out every so many years (13 to 17 years, depending on location and brood group as shown in the US Forest Service map above). Tollerud posts on Twitter:
For those who are interested in #BroodX#cicadas in Baltimore, @chemDrV and I set up an 8 inch underground temperature sensor + Twitter bot – apparently they all have little thermometers with marks at 64 degrees F. (Thanks @adafruit for the hardware to make(r) it possible!)
The temperature in Baltimore (below graph) shows isn’t warm enough for the mass ground exodus, which happens at 64 degrees Fahrenheit:
The current ground temperature is 53.7 degrees F, which is below the target temperature. Cicadas are cozy in their burrow.
You can see the posts by Wyman Park Cicada Bot (@CicadaWp) including plots like the one below. And the code is available on GitHub.
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