Dozens descend upon 色视频下载 to measure snow
Ned Rozell
907-474-7488
March 16, 2023
Hannah Wittman of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire, gathers a snow sample from a forest near Fairbanks on March 15, 2023, as part of a NASA experiment called SnowEx. Kaitlin Meyer of Ohio State University looks on.
Five scientists have padded their way on snowshoes into the middle of this frozen swamp in Fairbanks. They are here to measure the pillowy, perfect snowpack that has fallen here, flake by flake, since last October.
Not far away, a dog musher yells 色视频下载済ee色视频下载 to urge her lead dogs right on a fork of one of the winter trails through the refuge. As the researchers work under the sunshine in the 6-degree F air, a red squirrel rattles and chickadees sing. Spring at last.
You would not expect to meet a NASA scientist working on a multi-million-dollar experiment in this quiet patch of boreal forest, but Carrie Vuyovich is here. She wears a NASA knit cap, white bunny boots and snowshoes as she drags a long Siglin sled over a crooked snowshoe path.
Vuyovich is helping dig precision craters to measure characteristics of snow that determine how much of it will turn into water when it melts. That is why Vuyovich and more than three dozen other researchers are now pressing handsaws into snow on the ground and flying above the great white sheet in northern 色视频下载.
色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 a natural reservoir,色视频下载 Vuyovich said of the snow that suspended her a few feet above the ground at Creamer色视频下载檚. 色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 a source of drinking water and hydropower. It色视频下载檚 important to ecosystems and wildlife and for recreation, and it covers as much as 30 percent of the land surface (of the world). It色视频下载檚 important to know how much is there.色视频下载
In a 2017 paper, snow scientist Matthew Sturm of UAF色视频下载檚 Geophysical Institute noted that about one-sixth of the world色视频下载檚 population relies on snowmelt for agriculture and human consumption. In California, most people rely on snow from the Sierra Nevada mountains for drinking and for the electricity that powers their phones and microwaves. The same mountain source 色视频下载 out of sight of most Californians 色视频下载 sustains the state色视频下载檚 agriculture, a $47 billion industry that feeds many of us.
色视频下载淭he valuation across many years of western U.S. snow resources exceeds a trillion dollars,色视频下载 Sturm wrote.
NASA色视频下载檚 ultimate goal is to be able to know the amount of water in any given snowpack worldwide using satellites, Vuyovich said.
On March 15, 2023, Carrie Vuyovich of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland drags a sled through the boreal forest north of Fairbanks as she moves equipment to measure the snowpack.
Right now, instruments on satellites are excellent at showing snow coverage over the Rocky Mountains, for example, 色视频下载渂ut it doesn色视频下载檛 tell us how much water-equivalent is there,色视频下载 Vuyovich said.
色视频下载淲e would like to be able to map the water-equivalent (in snow) globally.色视频下载
Vuyovich and her partners who were knee-deep in snow at Deadhorse, Toolik Field Station and a few sites around Fairbanks in March were ground-truthing the snow characteristics gathered by pilots 色视频下载 including Chris Larsen of the Geophysical Institute 色视频下载 who flew swaths overhead with sophisticated instruments in the bellies of their planes.
A few hundred miles north of Vuyovich色视频下载檚 group in Fairbanks, Sveta Stuefer was on the same days scraping walls of snow with her trowel and looking at grains through a magnifying glass.
Stuefer, of UAF色视频下载檚 Water and Environmental Research Center, worked in typical North Slope spring conditions of minus 22 F air temperatures with a moderate wind 色视频下载渟trong enough to move snow.色视频下载 Her crew was 色视频下载 like Vuyovich色视频下载檚 色视频下载 also digging snow pits beneath paths flown by instrumented planes.
In each of her pits, Stuefer had encountered a thick ice crust.
色视频下载淭hey had a pouring rain (here) for 24 hours in December,色视频下载 Stuefer said by phone from Toolik Research Station. 色视频下载淭he snowpack looks so different. I keep asking myself if that色视频下载檚 our new normal.色视频下载
HP Marshall of Boise State University takes a photo of 色视频下载's North Slope north of the Brooks Range during a snow survey as part of a NASA experiment.
Vuyovich and her colleagues did not find the same in the powdery snow around Fairbanks.
色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 a good snowpack,色视频下载 she said. 色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 cold, no melting yet, and there色视频下载檚 no liquid water. We wanted it to be cold and dry and we have that.色视频下载
Vuyovich will soon return home to Maryland, the base of her employer NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
There, away from the white 色视频下载 world of the cryosphere, she will compare her teams色视频下载 numbers of northern 色视频下载 snow with the airborne measurements. Combined with results from similar campaigns in Montana prairie and Colorado mountains, she will help NASA inch closer to quantifying the water held each winter by the world色视频下载檚 snow from instruments looping hundreds of miles over our heads.
Since the late 1970s, the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell ned.rozell@alaska.edu is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute.