Methods

Simple assessments of the physical conditions in alpine ecosystems do not necessarily depend on sophisticated instrumentation.

A spade and a pocket thermometer may provide immediately useful information on soil moisture and ground temperature. The latter is the simplest and best surrogate for thermal life conditions.

So called minimum-maximum thermometers can be left behind to store extremes for you.

Nut-size electronic data loggers can store up to 4 years temperatures measured at hourly intervals and need no attendance once buried.