Dutch University Creates Visual Climate Tracker Using Four-Season Campus Photography
Wageningen, Tuesday, 3 February 2026.
Wageningen University’s innovative GrowApp captures dramatic seasonal transformations across campus locations, creating compelling visual evidence of climate change through systematic photography. The digital tool has documented over 400 images since 2016, producing time-lapse videos that reveal shifting natural patterns as temperatures rise, supporting the university’s Nature Calendar research project launched in 2001.
Recent Winter Documentation Completes Seasonal Cycle
The recent snowfall in early February 2026 provided Wageningen University & Research with a crucial opportunity to complete their winter documentation using the GrowApp [1]. The snow-covered campus allowed researchers to capture the final seasonal images needed to create comprehensive four-season visual records of how climate change affects natural cycles. This winter photography session was combined with existing images from spring, summer, and autumn to demonstrate the complete seasonal progression across multiple campus locations [1]. The timing proves particularly significant as it enables the Nature Calendar research project to generate both valuable scientific data and compelling visual evidence of environmental changes occurring in real-time [1].
Comprehensive Campus Documentation Since 2016
The GrowApp has been systematically documenting seasonal changes since 2017, with some locations tracked since September 30, 2016 [1]. Multiple strategic campus locations serve as observation points, including the south side of the Atlas building with moseiken in the NL2120 landscape garden, where photographs were taken on May 8, 2025, July 14, 2025, October 10, 2025, and January 5, 2026 [1]. The pond in the Lumentuin represents another key documentation site, with images captured on April 14, 2025, June 30, 2025, November 10, 2025, and January 5, 2026 [1]. Additional monitoring occurs at the garden and pond on the east side of the Forum building, photographed on April 4, 2025, June 30, 2025, October 15, 2025, and January 3, 2026 [1]. The systematic approach ensures consistent temporal and spatial data collection across diverse campus ecosystems.
Extensive Time-Lapse Archive Reveals Climate Patterns
The university has accumulated substantial visual archives through the GrowApp initiative, with time-lapse videos available for numerous campus locations showing hundreds of images collected over multiple years [1]. The south side of the Atlas building features over 240 images captured since September 30, 2016, while the east side contains more than 172 images from the same starting date [1]. The NL2120 landscape garden has accumulated over 216 images since August 11, 2017, and the Omniagebouw documentation includes more than 104 images since October 10, 2020 [1]. The pond in the Lumentuin represents one of the most comprehensive datasets with over 340 images since September 23, 2016, while the broader Lumentuin area contains more than 384 images from the same period [1]. A birch tree in the Lumentuin has been photographed over 421 times since September 23, 2016, and two white horse chestnuts have generated over 468 images during the same timeframe [1].
Climate Change Research Through Visual Documentation
The Nature Calendar research project, which began on February 4, 2001, operates under the subtitle ‘klimaatverandering in de achtertuin’ (climate change in the backyard), indicating how the natural calendar shifts due to rising temperatures [1]. The project initially launched in collaboration with the radio program Vroege Vogels, establishing a long-term foundation for climate change observation [1]. The visual documentation serves a dual purpose by providing both rigorous scientific data for climate research and accessible, compelling imagery that demonstrates environmental changes to broader audiences [1]. The systematic photography approach enables researchers to track subtle shifts in seasonal timing, vegetation patterns, and ecosystem responses that might otherwise go unnoticed in traditional climate monitoring methods [1]. This innovative combination of technology and environmental science positions Wageningen University & Research at the forefront of visual climate change documentation, creating valuable resources for both academic research and public education about environmental transformation [1].