Designing a Cave Air Monitoring System: Guide and feedback from 15 years of monitoring the Cussac Cave (France)

Understanding the cave’s ventilation system is important for determining how the cavity interacts with external airflow. This requires a well-designed monitoring system. This article addresses these key aspects: how to build a monitoring system for cave air parameters and how to assess the ventilation of a cave. We proposed a flowchart to help address the issues in: 1) the modularity of a monitoring system, 2) the use of “homemade device” or “ready to use device”, 3) the frequency of measure and its effect on the electrical consumption, 4) the duration of the survey, and 5) the accessibility of the recorded data. In this study, the needs, in terms of resolution and frequency of the measure, are aligned to the classical objectives of the cave air monitoring system. We presented a basis for crafting a Cave Air Monitoring System taking the positioning of the sensors in a cave into account with a minimum of six essential sensors: temperature (3), CO2 (2), and anemometer (1). Based on the acquired experience using the 24 sensors installed in Cussac Cave, this paper presents the encountered challenges, applied solutions, and key findings.