Snow Sampling
Morning
We started the day with a breakfast. For breakfast we had: eggs, sausage and hash browns. Once we finished breakfast, we had a 20 minute break. After this break we had a briefing for the snow sampling activity that we did today.
The anow sampling briefing was held in a classroom on the second floor. During the lesson, we leaned what snow sampling was, and the many different techniques that were necessary in order to complete the exercises.
Why are we doing snow sampling? During the summer, there is a different group of students that come and visit the CNSC research centre to do several tests during the summer. However, they can not visit the research centre during the summer. To help out, we were tasked with collecting snow samples for that group.
There are several main components to snow sampling. These are: measuring the depth of snow, measuring layers of snow, measuring densities of snow, identifying snow crystal types and testing the hardness.
For measuring the depth and height of the snow, we used a method called core sampling. In this method, we sticked a hollow fibre glass tube into the snow. The tube had markings every 2 centimeters. Multiples of 10 were also marked with numbers. The snow was be trapped by the fibre optic glass and we measured the mass of the snow by putting the snow into a bag and using a scale to record the mass of the snow.
During the harsh winds of the north, the snow is blown far from where it falls. Once the strong winds stop, compressed blankets of snow stick together. This forms layers of hard snow. To find out how many layers there are in a area of snow, we dug a hole. The cross section of the snow can have several layers. These can range from 2-5 layers, from what we've seen.
Identifying snow crystals is a hard task when you are bundled up. To identify snow crystals, we were given a small metal 10 by 10 board that had a convex lens attached. There are 4 different levels of crystals, and the level of the crystals all depend on the amount of vapour that froze into ice. The main difference between the ice crystal levels was the amount of lines that were present on the ice crystal. III A-1 being the lowest and III A-4 being the highest.
The final component of snow sampling was testing the hardness of the snow. We used a "SM" and a "HM"spring to do this. The S standing for Soft and the H standing for Hard. The main purpose of the SM and HM was to find out how much force was needed to break each individual layer of snow. The HM requred less pressure to break snow and the SM needed more pressure to break the same amount of snow. Both of them have their merits in different situations.
The remainder of the day was doing the work. 20 minutes after the lesson, we were sent out into a nearby forest to begin collecting research data. The snow was quite deep and the task took an hour since we were beginners. After lunch, we all loaded into the back of a couple ski-doos and went 8 kilometers from the research centre to collect more information. This time, we were collecting snow information on a lake. The snow was shallow and collecting information was a lot easier now that we had a little experience behind our back.
The most important part the sampling was the core samples. In total, we collected around 165 core samples.
Our snow sampling experience was lots of fun and we learned what goes on at the CNSC.
(PS: We saw the Aurora Borealis on the 4th)
- Rekai Musuka
During the harsh winds of the north, the snow is blown far from where it falls. Once the strong winds stop, compressed blankets of snow stick together. This forms layers of hard snow. To find out how many layers there are in a area of snow, we dug a hole. The cross section of the snow can have several layers. These can range from 2-5 layers, from what we've seen.
Identifying snow crystals is a hard task when you are bundled up. To identify snow crystals, we were given a small metal 10 by 10 board that had a convex lens attached. There are 4 different levels of crystals, and the level of the crystals all depend on the amount of vapour that froze into ice. The main difference between the ice crystal levels was the amount of lines that were present on the ice crystal. III A-1 being the lowest and III A-4 being the highest.
The final component of snow sampling was testing the hardness of the snow. We used a "SM" and a "HM"spring to do this. The S standing for Soft and the H standing for Hard. The main purpose of the SM and HM was to find out how much force was needed to break each individual layer of snow. The HM requred less pressure to break snow and the SM needed more pressure to break the same amount of snow. Both of them have their merits in different situations.
Rest of the Day
The remainder of the day was doing the work. 20 minutes after the lesson, we were sent out into a nearby forest to begin collecting research data. The snow was quite deep and the task took an hour since we were beginners. After lunch, we all loaded into the back of a couple ski-doos and went 8 kilometers from the research centre to collect more information. This time, we were collecting snow information on a lake. The snow was shallow and collecting information was a lot easier now that we had a little experience behind our back.
The most important part the sampling was the core samples. In total, we collected around 165 core samples.Our snow sampling experience was lots of fun and we learned what goes on at the CNSC.
(PS: We saw the Aurora Borealis on the 4th)
- Rekai Musuka
Great detail in your post, gentlemen. You all worked very diligently as true scientists today.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got to see the Northern Lights, they look beautiful. Thank you to whoever has been brave enough to remove their mitts and take all the outdoor pictures on this trip!
ReplyDelete