Week 5: Post-trip Report

The summit of Mount Washington in winter is an awe-inspiring place.  This mountain, that can experience the worst weather on the planet, presented us with relatively mild conditions: a relative lack of snow (you could see some bare rock!), an almost balmy 13o F, and a crust of newly-formed rime ice.  However, mild is relative-we still needed all of our layers, goggles to protect our eyes from the sting of blowing ice crystals, and found that most of our equipment was rendered almost inoperable fairly quickly due to the layer of ice that formed on everything.  We were in a cloud!  We were in a place that few ever get to see…but, much more important than that, our students were going to be able to share this experience with us.  

Two of us, Laura Seaver, a 6th grade science teacher from Loranger Middle School in Old Orchard Beach Maine and myself, a high school science teacher from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover NH,  had been accepted into the Mount Washington Observatory Arctic Wednesdays program-an opportunity to go to the top of Mt Washington, visit the Mount Washington Observatory (MWOBS) and learn about weather science from the source-an observatory that has been collecting weather data since 1932!  Laura skyped back with her classroom while up there, I brought my story back in pictures and new curriculum ideas.  

The day started with a snowcat ride to the top.  On the way up we disembarked a couple times to check equipment, record temperature and pressure changes and taste some rime ice—no taste, rime ice is pure frozen water, nothing else.   Rime ice is beautiful - spikes of thin, fragile ice radiating ever outwards. Just imagine supercooled fog blowing over the summit. The sub-zero liquid water meets surfaces to crystallize upon, the water freezes, feathers and spikes form as ice crystal meets supercooled water drop, all of this aligned with the wind to create directional fringes on all solid objects.

Once at the top we helped unload supplies (the snowcat ride wasn’t just for us, it was for the shift change-weather observers have a week on/week off schedule.) As a frequent hiker in the White Mountains I religiously use the MWOBS higher summit weather forecasts to plan my hikes and check on the highly variable weather that occurs above tree line in the White Mountains.  So, I had known for years that the MWOBS produced weather reports.  New for me was how much more science is done up there and how much of that science goes into not just reporting on the weather but understanding climate. 

We began our visit with a staff meeting in which the researchers went over current conditions, weather predictions and discussed what was happening weather-wise on the summit and the region.  Weather observers collect round-the-clock hourly data about a variety of atmospheric conditions, often by hand, meaning observers have to go out in all weather to read instruments and, just as important, knock rime ice off of instruments.  We went along with one of the young interns to watch her do this-it was cold, hard work- I can only imagine what it is like in sub-zero conditions with gale-force winds.  This data is used to predict upcoming weather conditions, something that is notoriously hard to do.  In addition to weather forecasts a slew of scientists are collecting data that is used in a variety of climate and meteorological research projects.   

Our tour of the station included time to hang out and talk with staff members.  I teach AP Environmental Science and was particularly interested in work being done on an atmospheric layer I had never heard of-the boundary layer.  We live in a layer of the atmosphere called the troposphere.  In class I refer to this layer as ‘where weather happens’.  However, there are two distinct horizontal layers in the troposphere-the closer-to-the surface boundary layer and the overlying free troposphere.   Evidently there can be significant differences in air temperature, turbulence, and atmospheric chemistry between these two layers.  The top of the boundary layer can move up and down.  Mt Washington is sometimes completely within the boundary layer and sometimes peaks (that’s a pun!) out above it.  The MWOBS team is currently studying whether Mt Washington’s’ variable exposure to these two layers might be a reason Mt Washington is warming more slowly than lower elevations.  Figuring this out would be one more piece in the puzzle that is climate change science.

Our intern-guide, Sarah, also explained why Mt Washington is subject to the fastest wind speeds on Earth (231 miles per hour, recorded April 12, 1934 by Mount Washington Observatory staff-that record stood through most of the 20th century).)  The lowest temperature ever recorded at Mount Washington's summit is −46.0 °C. Only the South Pole is colder!!  In addition, the summit is subjected to hurricane-force winds on an average of 110 days a year!!   As explained by Sarah, Washington’s extreme weather is due to its location-it stands in the path of several storm systems.  The north-south orientation of the Presidential Range combined with its vertical rise make it a barrier to winds, which get funneled over the peak, gaining speed as they gain altitude.  

Unfortunately, a nor’easter was due to descend that evening so Laura and I had to leave earlier than usual.  We donned our gear and rode the snowcat down the winding auto road, stopping periodically to scrape ice off the remote mesonet sampling stations.  Mesonet - a final example of one of the many things I had never heard of until that day on the mountain.  Mesoscale meteorology is the study of atmospheric phenomena at the scale of 10 to 1000 km and a typically less than 24 hour time scale.  Mesoscale phenomena are things like thunderstorms, land-sea breezes, squall lines-many mesoscale phenomena are those that most directly impact human activity.  On a larger scale  are synoptic phenomena— larger and longer events on the scale of the size of a typical weather map, events that might unfold over days-frontal systems and hurricanes, or the Nor’ Easter that was descending upon our area.  

So, we fled the mountain and the impending blizzard, full of new knowledge and the germs of ideas on how to share this information with our students.  The biggest impact, so far, that the Arctic Wednesday program has had upon me and my students has been a heightened awareness of just what the science of meteorology encompasses.  I brought renewed excitement about collecting weather data to my classroom and ideas on how to collect meaningful data at our school and compare it with  that collected on Mt Washington.  

Prior to this trip, I hadn’t realized how much of that data is available on a daily and hourly basis.  For example, the Mount Washington Regional Mesonet system-a network of remote stations in and around the White Mountains - continuously collect weather data. We can collect weather data at our school and instantly compare it with what is happening at higher elevations by visiting the MWOBS website (https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/mount-washington-regional-mesonet.aspx)  clicking on a mesonet station of choice and comparing data.   

Some of my students skype each week with a school in Ghana.  This trip motivated me to send them some rain gauges and anemometers so we can talk weather with a completely different part of the world.    We are hoping to have a joint video conference with the weather observers at MWOBS sometime next year…imagine kids from Ghana and Dover New Hampshire discussing weather science with the experts on top of Mt Washington!  

Finally, in my AP Environmental Science class we have traditionally covered climate change and vertical zonation of biomes and atmospheric conditions—now we have a local point of reference.  We can compare weather trends on Mt Washington from the last almost 100 years with what is happening regionally and globally.  We can arrange to Skype with researchers, share observations and ask questions.  We can hike in the White Mountains, not just for pleasure but can view our observations of biome changes as we go up in elevation through the prism of climate research.  Additionally, through reading the blog entries by other teachers participating in this program I have found a host of ideas on how to incorporate what I have learned and experienced into my curriculum.  

These are the sorts of experiences we as science educators need to help ground what we do in real research.  Once we make these connections the possibilities are endless!  

-Susan Pike, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dover, NH