Arctic Wednesdays 2025: Week 4 Post-Trip Blog

 What a wonderful experience! The ride up to the summit, and back down, was much less stressful than when I drove up the auto road with my family years ago. I made sure to sit on the same side of the snow cat for both rides so I could take full advantage of the excellent visibility (which I was told rarely happens this time of year). I was a little worried going up there that I would get blown away. Fortunately wind speeds were not too bad (approximately 30 mph). I'm still glad I had something to hold on to when I climbed up to the top of the instrument tower though. Up there, I was buffeted by winds that had traveled unobstructed for hundreds of miles. 

Everyone was very enthusiastic about their work. The volunteers warmed up some home-made burritos and Mexican street corn for our lunch. According to all the interns, meal time is one of the highlights of their shifts. They were right - it was delicious. The interns led us on a tour of the observatory. I was impressed by the amount of physics knowledge required to make weather observations and conduct weather-related research. I immediately shared information about the internship program with my physics and meteorology students and hope one day to hear from a former student who participates in the program. 

Of course, I had to meet Nimbus while I was up there. He played with me and even tolerated a brief head scratch before I went off to conduct the experiment I brought with me. I wanted to measure the speed of sound in air using tuning forks and a resonance tube. My goal was to determine whether atmospheric pressure would affect this speed. When I got home I repeated the experiment at approximately the same temperature (close enough that it would only cause a 0.5 m/s difference) and then analyzed my data. 

The results of my experiment suggest the speed of sound decreases with atmospheric pressure, but I do not have nearly enough evidence to make any formal conclusion. I measured the speed of sound to be 325 m/s at the summit and 333 m/s in Derry NH. I plan to share these results with my students, and enlist their help in finding ways to obtain more accurate and precise measurements.

I hope I will be able to visit the Mount Washington Observatory again. In the meantime, I will encourage other teachers to participate in the Arctic Wednesday Program. I want to thank the MWOBS team for making this visit possible and for answering all my questions. I would also like to thank Andy Chaplin, my travel companion and fellow teacher, for assisting me in my experiment. 

Marissa Rousseau-Stitt
Physics Teacher
Pinkerton Academy
Derry, NH