Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS-BeNeLux network during the month of February 2024 is presented. This month was good for a total of 2739 multi-station meteors resulting in 990 orbits. One of the lowest results in February since the start of the CAMS-BeNeLux network in March 2012.
Introduction
Meteor activity is relatively low at our latitudes in February. Still, thanks to the long nights, quite a nice number of orbits can be collected in these long nights when it is completely clear.
February 2024 statistics
Off course we must get clear sky during these long nights in order to collect a large number of orbits in this winter month.
This year, February in the Netherlands was the warmest February but very cloudy month since measurements of sunshine began in 1901. This is not a good situation to get clear skies. It was therefore a downright gloomy and rainy month. Mean temperatures this month were nearly as high as in April normally.
During five nights no orbits at all were obtained. In addition, there were six other nights in which the number of collected orbits was lower than five. Further on, there were only two nights in which we have obtained more than 100 orbits: February 1–2 (124 orbits) and February 12–13 (252 orbits). This last night accounted for 25% of the monthly score.
The fact that in almost 40% of all nights this month less than 5 meteors per night were recorded shows that the most important feature of this month was the cloudy atmosphere. Only three February months were less sunny than this February since the start of the measurements in 1901.
CAMS-BeNeLux collected only 2739 multi-station meteors this month, resulting in 990 orbits. Together with the results in January 2021, this is the lowest score in seven years.
The number of orbits collected from more than two stations was only 42%. This is also a very low number when compared with other months in the last five years.
130 different cameras were active this month. Most cameras, 123 were active on February 1–2, the lowest number of active cameras, 105, were active on February 25–26. The number of cameras participating in our network is still growing.
Figure 1 – Comparing February 2024 to previous months of February in the CAMS-BeNeLux history. The blue bars represent the number of orbits, the red bars the maximum number of cameras capturing in a single night, the green bars the average number of cameras capturing per night and the yellow bars the minimum number of cameras.
Table 1 – Number of orbits and active cameras in CAMS-BeNeLux during the month of February in the period 2013–2024.
| Year | Nights | Orbits | Stations | Max. Cams | Min. Cams | Mean Cams |
| 2013 | 9 | 38 | 6 | 5 | – | 2.3 |
| 2014 | 21 | 601 | 12 | 29 | – | 20.3 |
| 2015 | 21 | 777 | 14 | 39 | – | 27.4 |
| 2016 | 24 | 1075 | 17 | 51 | 13 | 36.9 |
| 2017 | 16 | 717 | 18 | 53 | 20 | 38.6 |
| 2018 | 26 | 4147 | 22 | 91 | 48 | 81.7 |
| 2019 | 24 | 3485 | 18 | 74 | 50 | 68.8 |
| 2020 | 24 | 1215 | 22 | 84 | 62 | 73.1 |
| 2021 | 25 | 2136 | 26 | 91 | 60 | 78.6 |
| 2022 | 23 | 1939 | 24 | 78 | 49 | 63.7 |
| 2023 | 21 | 3543 | 37 | 105 | 79 | 95.9 |
| 2024 | 24 | 990 | 45 | 123 | 105 | 112.9 |
| Total | 258 | 20663 |
This month, a new station in Germany could be added to our network. At Bruchhausen Vilsen, Romke Schievink now operates two RMS cameras.
Conclusion
Results for February 2024 are meager when compared to other February months since the start of the CAMS-BeNeLux network in March 2012, despite the still growing number of stations/cameras.
Acknowledgment
Many thanks to all participants in the CAMS-BeNeLux network for their dedicated efforts. The CAMS-BeNeLux team was operated by the following volunteers during the month of February 2024:
Stéphane Barré (Colombey-Les-Belles, France, RMS 3907), Hans Betlem (Woold, Netherlands, Watec 3071, 3072, 3073, 3074, 3075, 3076, 3077 and 3078), Felix Bettonvil (Utrecht, Netherlands, Watec 376), Jean-Marie Biets (Wilderen, Belgium, Watec 3180, 3181, 3182 and 3183), Ludger Boergerding (Holdorf, Germany, RMS 3801), Günther Boerjan (Assenede, Belgium, RMS 3823), Martin Breukers (Hengelo, Netherlands, Watec 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326 and 327, RMS 319, 328 and 329 ), Jean Brunet (Fontenay le Marmion, France, RMS 3911), Seppe Canonaco (Genk, RMS 3818 and 3819), Pierre de Ponthiere (Lesve, Belgium, RMS 3816 and 3826), Bart Dessoy (Zoersel, Belgium, Watec 804, 805, 806), Tammo Jan Dijkema (Dwingeloo, Netherlands, RMS 3199), Jürgen Dörr (Wiesbaden, Germany, RMS 3810), Isabelle Ansseau, Jean-Paul Dumoulin, Dominique Guiot and Christian Wanlin (Grapfontaine, Belgium, Watec 814, 815, RMS 3817, 3843, 3844 and 3845), Uwe Glässner (Langenfeld, Germany, RMS 3800), Roel Gloudemans (Alphen aan de Rijn, Netherlands, RMS 3197), Luc Gobin (Mechelen, Belgium, Watec 3890, 3891, 3892 and 3893), Tioga Gulon (Nancy, France, Watec 3900 and 3901), Tioga Gulon (Chassignolles, France, RMS 3910), Robert Haas (Alphen aan de Rijn, Netherlands, Watec 3160, 3161, 3162, 3163, 3164, 3165, 3166 and 3167), Robert Haas (Texel, Netherlands, Watec 811 and 812), Kees Habraken (Kattendijke, Netherlands, RMS 3780, 3781, 3782 and 3783), Klaas Jobse (Oostkapelle, Netherlands, Watec 3030, 3031, 3032, 3033, 3034, 3035, 3036 and 3037), Carl Johannink (Gronau, Germany, Watec 3100, 3101, 3102), Reinhard Kühn (Flatzby, Germany, RMS 3802), Hervé Lamy (Dourbes, Belgium, Watec 394 and 395, RMS 3825 and 3841), Hervé Lamy (Humain, Belgium, RMS 3821 and 3828), Hervé Lamy (Ukkel, Belgium, Watec 393 and 817), Hartmut Leiting (Solingen, Germany, RMS 3806), Arnoud Leroy (Gretz-Armainvielliers, France, RMS3909), Horst Meyerdierks (Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany, RMS 3807), Koen Miskotte (Ermelo, Netherlands, Watec 3051, 3052, 3053 and 3054), Pierre-Yves Péchart (Hagnicourt, France, RMS 3902, 3903, 3904, 3905, 3906 and 3908), Holger Pedersen (Otterup, Denmark, RMS 3501), Eduardo Fernandez del Peloso (Ludwigshafen, Germany, RMS 3805), Tim Polfliet (Gent, Belgium, Watec 396, RMS 3820 and 3840), Steve Rau (Oostende, Belgium, RMS 3822), Steve Rau (Zillebeke, Belgium, Watec 3850 and 3852, RMS 3851 and 3853), Paul and Adriana Roggemans (Mechelen, Belgium, RMS 3830 and 3831, Watec 3832, 3833, 3834, 3835, 3836 and 3837), Jim Rowe (Eastbourne, England, RMS 3703), Philippe Schaack (Roodt-sur-Syre, Luxemburg, RMS 3952), Romke Schievink (Bruchhausen Vilsen, Germany, RMS 3808 and 3809),Hans Schremmer (Niederkruechten, Germany, Watec 803), Rob Smeenk (Assen, Netherlands, RMS 3196), Rob Smeenk (Kalenberg, Netherlands, RMS 3192, 3193, 3194 and 3195), Erwin van Ballegoij (Heesh, Netherlands Watec 3148 and 3149), Andy Washington (Clapton, England, RMS 3702).
