SNOWPACK FIELD DAY

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(Schedules etc. subject to modification)
Snow: Lecture, Prep, Field

8:30a –  Weather Briefing - Daily Weather Discussion handouts: Archive Lecture: Snow Processes–  Snowpack development, analysis of snow profiles · Deposition patterns and ecology · Avalanches and disturbance ecology.   Readings - Part II WEH Chapter 2: pp. 38-41 (through end of section on "Falling Snow") [Scanned: pdf, 20M - temporary site.  Will be moved to eReserves] LC Chapter 2 To understand this more, see complementary material on properties of snowpack: WEH Chapter 2: pp. 41-63 (optional reading) Hull 2010 "Packed to the Hilt," Audubon Nov-Dec 2010 (pdf, 4M) An introduction to the ecological importance of the snowpack environment Handouts Climate and snow lecture handout (pdf, 700k) jpg version of the figure Air mass sources and flow patterns influencing the climate of the US Rocky Mtns - from "The Southern Rockies" by A. Benedict and B. Bash (1991, Sierra Club Books, SF) Daily Weather Discussion handouts: Archive Lesson points: Snow How do global, continental, regional, local position determine snowpack features? What are key descriptors of snowpack structure? In what way and by what mechanisms do these change with time (over hours, days, season)? Other Resources Snowcover Dec 2008 & Feb 2009 Progression of Snowcover over North American, Winter 2001-2002:  movie clip (mpg, 4M) Scanned WEH Fig 28 (pdf file, 6.5M).  This figure on snow classification did not reproduce well in recent printings of WEH - this file is scanned from an earlier printing. Near-surface faceting - Birkeland et al. 1998, in Arctic and Alpine Res. (pdf) "Snow and ice crystals." by Y Furukawa & JS Wettlaufer.  Physics Today, December 2007, page 70 pdf, or <http://ptonline.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_60/iss_12/70_1.shtml> more on the physics of snowflakes by Y Furukawa:  link drawning of snow crystals by René Descartes in 1637 (jpg): Physics Today story For fun - Propagation of ski moguls:  Bahr, D.B., W. T. Pfeffer, and R.C. Browning.  2009. The surprising motion of ski moguls. Physics Today, Nov 2009, pp. 68-69.  (2nd author is at INSTAAR) text: pdf, online  online videos: 2nd of 3 time-lapse videos is slowed down enough to more easily see the migration Arctic snow phenomena (Daquin Yang, U of Alaska, Fairbanks)- http://www.uaf.edu/water/faculty/yang/snowphenomena.html  9:30a-3:30p – Field: Snowpack structure and landscape distribution.  Guest field instructor: Jennifer Morse, MRS, CU FIELD - Bring Field Journal compass topo map (handout) pack lunch If you have:  Hand lens Snow shovel Handouts Snowpit protocol & snow crystal ID handout (pdf, 1.2M) Snowpack Profile datasheet (pdf, 60k)  Niwot Ridge Sites (doc, 130k) - edit to add field collection sites as needed Snowpack analysis, Winter Ecology 2005. (photo: Alan Rosacker) Lesson points  Activity supports points for Snow processes above Snowpack links Glossary of Snow & Avalanche Science Terms (illustrated and animated descriptions) Depth Hoar - Play demo Melt-freeze snow - animation Collapse - demo Snow Metamorphism Example snowpack analysis related to an avalanche accident report: Berthoud Pass - 6 Jan 2007 (CAIC) MetEd/Comet/UCAR Snowpack Assessment training module (.zip, 68M) from http://www.meted.ucar.edu/afwa/snowpack/ -- Open to public - Need to create a login. Source: COMET® (http://meted.ucar.edu/), University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), sponsored in part through cooperative agreements with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) ©1997-2010 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. All Rights Reserved." Niwot Climate/ Snowpack links Niwot Ridge LTER Climate page  see also other version MRS Mountain Climate Program Climate station locations: Map, Elevation profile showing most stns Snowpack history = Stn C1 Monthly Snowpack Reports for 2011/12 - no reports Previous Years-  2010/11 - 31 Dec 10, 31 Jan 11, 28 Feb 11, 2009/10 - 31 Dec 09, 31 Jan 10, 2008/09 - 31 Dec 08, 31 Jan 09, 28 Feb 09 2007/08 - 31 Dec 07, 31 Jan 08, 29 Feb 08 2006/07 - 29 Dec 06, 31 Jan 07, 28 Feb 07 Regional snowfall maps of the two Dec 06 major storms: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/bou/?n=winter2_storms 2005/06: 16 Dec 05, 30 Dec 05, 31 Jan 06, 28 Feb 06 3:30a-5:00p – Lab: Snowpack structure work up.

rev.  16 Feb 12