Education and Outreach  

Tri-Valley School - Snow & Ice Day,10 March 2010

A “Snow and Ice Day” was held at Tri-Valley School, in Healy, AK for the Ms. DeBlauw’s (ALISON) and Mr. Martin’s (Nenana River Project) classes (33 students in all) by Principal Investigator Kim Morris and Dr. Martin Jeffries (Professor of Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks) on 10 March 2010. Kim and Martin drove down to Healy from Fairbanks on 9 March during a snow storm.

The fieldwork was held at Otto Lake, a short drive from the school (see Otto Lake). The students (grades 4-5 and 6-8) performed a number of measurements along two 100m transects on the lake and two shorter transects on the adjacent land (one in the trees and one in an open area). On the land they:
    (1) measured snow depths;
    (2) took snow samples to calculate snow density; and
    (3) dug a snow pits.

On the lake they:
    (1) measured snow depths;
    (2) took snow samples to calculate snow density;
    (3) dug a snow pits; and
    (4) drilled holes in the ice.

A partial ice core also obtained to illustrate ice crystallography. After lunch, the students weighed their snow samples, calculated snow densities and analyzed and graphed their data. They also had the opportunity to see how an ice core is processed and looked at the crystal structure of several ice cores under cross-polarized light.

They presented their results to their peers and attempted to come up with a coherent “story” about the snow and ice on and around Otto Lake.

The students head out onto the ice on Otto Lake. Photo: Sidney Stephens.