Snow sampling Citizen science experiment during Easter 2022
How fast do clouds produce snow from water vapour when they meet the coast? And where does the water vapour in the clouds come from? Researchers in the project ISLAS are asking all citizens to help answer these questions by collecting surface snow samples in the mountains of Northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland during Easter 2022 (8-16 April 2022).
Citizen Science snow sampling manual
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Many thanks for your interest in our citizen science experiment!
Collecting snow samples for our project is easy, and very useful for our scientific objectives to understand how clouds produce snow, and where the water in the snow comes from. Read more about our ISLAS project here.
We are looking for fresh snow at the surface from a wide range of locations in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland. Samples of surface snow from a large area will complement the large ISLAS2022 field campaign, which among other involves many scientists in Kiruna, Andenes, and Ny Ålesund.
In addition to collecting and melting the snow samples, we ask you to note down where and when you took the snow samples. Also, we need you to return the melted snow samples at a pickup location afterwards. Then we can analyze the snow for their isotope composition in the laboratory. We will inform you about the project results as soon as possible after the sampling period.
We have earlier done such a citizen science field experiment in southern Norway during 2018 and 2019.
Sampling surface snow is fun and easy:
- Find an undisturbed area with unmelted snow. Fresh snow during or immediately after a snowfall event is ideal.
- Clean the spoon by poking into the snow 2-3 times.
- Open the bag for the sample by pulling on the white stripes.
- Use the spoon to sample from the top 1-5cm of the surface snow into the bag until full.
- Push air out of snow bag. Seal bag by whirling it down and folding over the yellow strips.
- Fill in information about the sampling location and time in the table above.
- Melt snow in bag at room temperature.
- When completely melted, transfer to corresponding glass vial. Fill vial completely if possible.
- Make sure red rubber seal is inside the cap. Screw cap firmly on vial. Store in fridge.
- Return sample vials and protocol sheet immediately after Easter to where you picked up the sample bag.
You can sign up for the project at this online form.
When you collect the samples, please register details about time, location, and sampling conditions at this form.
After the project, we will send a summary about the project results to all participants who whish to receive this information.
Many thanks for your valuable contribution!