Snow and Avalanche Dynamics

Homework is due on the day listed below. Late homework will be accepted, for half credit, for one week past the due date (i.e., through the following Weds). Late homework will not be accepted after one week past the due date, unless the instructors ok it ahead of time.

ASSIGNMENTS
Dates listed are the due dates.

Friday January 13

Look over the beacon search diagrams (we will practice during lab).

Read McClung 90-91 (Snow Slab Nomenclature), and McClung 109-118 (Avalanche Terrain)

Homework 1 due

Wednesday January 18

Read McClung 21-36 , Elements of Mountain Snow Climates and Weather. You can skim pp 26-29, focusing again at the Local Wind Flow section

Homework 2: MetEd module: Avalanche Weather Forecasting. Complete module, take quiz and print it out to hand in. (Give yourself a couple hours for this intro, it's a bit a long). Feel free to skip or skim cases 4 and 5 in the Forecast Exercises near the end.

Timeline Part I due. Check out this Sample Week-long Timeline from February 2011 for guidance on formatting. You can find links to the CLN and AMB data sites on the Mesowest network under the Resources section of this website. The key from the in-class exercise can be found above under the "Timeline Stuff" section.

*optional: Read Atwater, "The Avalanche Hunters," chapter 2. This is a fun chapter by one of the legends of the avalanche world, Monty Atwater. It's a good introduction to avalanches and snowpacks, and has some fun Alta history.

Friday January 20

Read AAA - Snow, Weather and Avalanches Sections 2.1-2.5 (Snowpack Observations)

Read AAA - Snow, Weather and Avalanches Appendix F. Recommend you print this appendix for easy reference if you are reading it online.

Reminder: this book is available online here if you didn't end up buying it

Wednesday January 25

Read McClung 36-40 (Heat Transfer)

Read Cline 1997 (Surface Energy Balance, Heat Transfer in the Snow Pack)

Read Ahrens 10-12 (Atmospheric Pressure) and Ahrens 91-95 (Water Vapor)

Lab 1 and Pit Profile 1 due

* All labs include a full pit write up like we practiced in class for the pit you dug during the field session. Refer to the AAA book for more guidance.

*optional: Read Fraser, "The Avalanche Enigma," chapters 2-3 (link under Readings)

Wednesday February 1

Read Armstrong, "The Mountain Snowpack"

Read 95-98 (Dry Slab Avalanche Formation)

Read AAA - Sections 2.6 and 2.7

Know AAA Appendix F inside and out!

Lab 2 (including pit profile) due

*Practice for beacon test*

Friday February 3

Beacon tests!

Wednesday February 8

Read McClung 52-67 (Metamorphism)

Read Colbeck, "A Review of Sintering in Seasonal Snow" (link under Readings)

Read Ahrens, "Meteorology Today", pp. 113 & 169-172 (Atmospheric Snow Crystals)

Read McClung, 43-59 (Atmospheric Snow Crystals)

Read Libbrecht, "Snowflake Science" (link under Readings)

Lab 3 due

Wednesday February 15

Birkeland, "Near Surface Faceted Crystals in the Mountain Snowpack" (link under Readings)

Read McClung 49-52 (Surface Hoar)

Atmospheric Snow Crystals Homework due. We will talk about this more in class, do your best with the readings that were due last week.

Wednesday February 22

Exam 1

Pit Profiles Due

Wednesday March 1

Watch Inclined Plane Force Components. If you do not have a strong grasp of basic physics and/or trigonometry, watching this video will save you a lot of grief in class on Wednesday!!
Pretend the block is a layer of snow and the triangle is a slope (this will become clear in class)

Read McClung, 73-107 (Snow Mechanics and Dynamics)

Please bring a calculator with trig capability to class today

Wednesday, March 8

Read Moore, "Rough Correlations of Common Snowpack Stability Tests" (link under Readings)

Shear Stress and Strength Worksheet #2 due

Read Painter et al. 2012, "Dust Radiative Forcing in Snow of the Upper Colorado River Basin: A 6 year record of energy balance, radiation, and dust concentrations" (link under Readings)

Read Skiles et al. 2012, "Dust Radiative Forcing in Snow of the Upper Colorado River Basin: Interannual variability in radiative forcing and snowmelt rates" (link under Readings)

Lab 5 due

Please bring a calculator with trig capability to class today

March 13 - March 17

Spring Break

Wednesday, March 22

Armstrong, "Some Properties and Characteristics of Wet Snow" (link under Readings)

Heywood, "Wet Snow Avalanches: Stability Evaluation and Control" (link under Readings)

McClung, 68-72, 100-103 (Wet Snow and Wet Snow Avalanches)

Tensile Stress and Strength Worksheet #2 due

Wednesday, March 29

Projects Day One (guidelines here)

Presenters: Mountain Meteorology, Energy Balance, and Dry Snow Metamorphism

Wednesday, April 5

Projects Day Two

Presenters: Wet Snow Metamorphism and Snow Mechanics

All Final Papers due

Wednesday, April 12

Exam 2 due at 6 pm. You will need the weather timeline to complete it.

Wednesday, April 19

No Class