From the suffocating heat of Death Valley to the bone-chilling cold of Antarctica, scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, are leading the way in new, more precise methods of collecting important temperature data from around the world.

“It’s not just a thermometer anymore; we can take the temperature of air, soil, or water at the same instant every 15 seconds, 24 hours a day, every 3 ft for many kilometers,” says Scott Tyler, a University of Nevada professor, hydrologist, and director of its national hydrological measurement facility. Tyler and his colleagues have adapted distributed temperature-sensing methods using lasers and fiber optic cable for scientific purposes.

With a $1 million grant just received from the National Science Foundation, the environmental monitoring center at the University of Nevada, Reno, and its partners at Oregon State University will expand a program that has made it easier and more economical for researchers at educational institutions to gather temperature data by making high-precision, fiber-optic temperature measurement systems—such as equipment, software, and consultation—available at no cost.

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