Profile: Matthew Sturm
By Diana Campbell
907-474-5229
Matthew Sturm can色视频下载檛 choose one thing he likes best about snow, because it would be like choosing which of his children he likes best.
色视频下载淚 love the intellect of the science,色视频下载 said Sturm, a geophysicist with the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks . 色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 pure and simple.色视频下载
Sturm is one of the world色视频下载檚 snow experts, having driven thousands of miles on a snowmachine for winter research missions that last for months.
色视频下载淲hy does snow curl off a roof?色视频下载 he said. 色视频下载淗ow can an avalanche move across a flat surface so far? Why does spring snow pour like sugar?色视频下载
Sturm grew up in New Mexico, where he would escape to the mountains as a boy. 色视频下载淭hat色视频下载檚 where I first saw snow,色视频下载 he said.
This is a snowflake that fell through rain. Photo courtesy of M. Sturm.
At 17, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and served on an icebreaker that took him to both Antarctica and the Arctic.
Sturm came to UAF in 1981 to work on his Ph.D., studying under Carl Benson, now a GI professor emeritus known for his snow and ice research.
色视频下载淚 was drawn to the North,色视频下载 Sturm said. 色视频下载淚 like the snow. I don色视频下载檛 like the heat.色视频下载
He first started studying glaciers, but then switched to snow cover and individual snow grains, he said.
Much of Sturm色视频下载檚 snow research took off while he was at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory on Fort Wainwright. He has been at the Geophysical Institute for two years now, although he has worked with its scientists frequently during the past 35 years.
Matthew Sturm, a snow expert and geophysicist with the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, stands by his snowmachine during one of his many winter field trips. Photo courtesy of M. Sturm.
Sturm holds patents for two types of snow-measuring gadgets he色视频下载檚 developed, and he is a book author. His most recent book, 色视频下载淎pun: The Arctic Snow,色视频下载 is for children and has an accompanying teacher guide. He provided his own pen and ink drawings for the book.
色视频下载淚 had written so many scientific papers that got read by just a handful of experts,色视频下载 Sturm told Geophysical Institute writer Ned Rozell. 色视频下载淎 kid色视频下载檚 book is going to have as much of an impact as any scholarly paper I色视频下载檒l write.色视频下载
While doing research on the children色视频下载檚 book, Sturm worked with Inuit elders to understand their snow vocabulary. There are about 71 words for snow in the Inupiat Eskimo language, not hundreds, but those words capture many nuances concerning snow, Sturm said.
Just as Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to the Arctic, so have northern plants, animals and other living things.
As the northern climate changes, so does its snow. For example, thaws and winter rain can actually create vertical icicle-like formations deep in the snowpack and block tunnels that voles and other critters use. That could force them to the surface, where they are more vulnerable to predators and cold, Sturm said.
色视频下载淎rctic ecosystems are primed for snow,色视频下载 Sturm said. 色视频下载淢ost plants and living things here have a good relationship with snow.色视频下载
And, after many decades of study, so does Sturm.