Doing Science in a Snowpit

By Ludovic Brucker The main objective of deep field traverses like ours is to make in-situ measurements and collect samples, which obviously cannot be done from air or space. So, during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 SEAT field seasons, we have been taking in-situ snow and radar measurements. We typically had two different types of days [...]

By Ludovic Brucker
The main objective of deep field traverses like ours is to make in-situ measurements and collect samples, which obviously cannot be done from air or space. So, during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 SEAT field seasons, we have been taking in-situ snow and radar measurements.
We typically had two different types of days during our traverse (both equally enjoyable!): traveling days, where we would move to a new site and set up camp, and days where we would collect snow measurements and drill a 20-meter deep snow core near our camp.
(Actually, we had a third type of day where we’d spend hours and hours shoveling during snow storms… but that’s a different story!)
The surroundings of our camp, with many choices for sites to dig our snow pit and drill our core. Notice the abundance of sastrugi!
My duties during the ...