Scientist in charge: Dr. John C. Moore
Arctic Centre
University of Lapland
Box 122
FIN 96101 Rovaniemi
FINLAND
Tel: +358 16 341 2757
Fax: +358 16 341 2777
Contract No.: ERB4064PL950252
Type of Event: Practical Training Course
Members and teachers on Storglaciären near to the Tarfala research station.
The training courses were organized at two different research bases:
Tarfala Research station in northern Sweden.
Stockholm University, Department of Geography, manages the station. There
were several staff and postgraduate students from the department at the
station during the course who freely gave their time in helping to teach
the students. The second location was Lammi station
in central Finland, this is run by the University of Helsinki.
The stations were chosen to host the courses to minimize course costs, while providing a location that was ideal for the study of snow (in the case of Lammi) and glaciers (in the case of Tarfala). As Tarfala in particular is located in a remote environment, some 26 km from the nearest road, and 100 km from the nearest airport, we had to arrange logistics carefully. For travel to Tarfala we arranged for minibus transport from the regional centres to the end of the road. There snow scooters rented from the local Sami people met us. We then had a 2 hour (in good conditions) journey on the back of the scooters, or on sledges with our bags and scientific equipment. However the snow scooters could not go all the way to the station. There is a steep snow slope about 2 km from the station that is the limit of heavy sledges. Therefore all the course members had to get off the sledges and ski the remaining distance to the station. Naturally as the courses all took place in March, and we located well north of the Arctic Circle, this was often a pretty tough journey. It was always done in the dark after a long day travelling, on one occasion in a nasty wind, but also under the Northern Lights. The students coped well, and in many ways it was a fine introduction to the course and good experience of practical glaciology.
Lammi was not so remote, but was located several hours by bus from Helsinki. The courses based at Lammi actually began with a day of lectures in Helsinki University, followed by a bus trip via the Finnish Museum of Skiing. Which provided the chance for the students to practice their ski jumping skills (in a simulator) as well as learning more about the practical aspects of snow science.
As all the courses had a good deal of outside activities, involving
skiing, snow digging and general working in cold conditions, we were limited
in the students we could accept: all the students were required to be reasonably
physically fit. This unfortunately prevented us being able to accept disabled
students for safety reasons. We had no accidents on the courses, and all
the students seemed to enjoy the physical challenges.
Dates: 10-15 February 1997
Organizers: Department of Geophysics, University of Helsinki and
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
Site: Helsinki University and Lammi Biological Station, Finland
This course was mainly run by Professor Matti Leppäranta from Helsinki University, as the first days of the course were held at the University. We used the course to continue and build upon an earlier "snow" course held in 1995 which was not financed by the EU. A large emphasis was on multi-disciplinarity of the course, and as such required quite a lot of teaching support. Much of the teaching was done by Dr. Hardy Granberg (Swedish) who was partly financed by Helsinki University in his travel costs coming from Canada. At the station the students were living in isolation from other distractions and so spent very much time together, in a field environment surrounded by snow, so there were many evening snow related slide shows , videos, and of course walks in the snow environment.
In addition to lectures on snow physics, and the structure of snow pack, several interesting lecturers were given on the representation of snow in painting over the centuries, and the role of snow in the life of indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Practical field work included construction of snow shelters used by various groups in the Arctic. The physical properties of the snow pack were shown to be instrumental in the utility of the shelters in various environments. For example the soft, deep snow typical of boreal forests cannot be used to construct igloos (they need hard wind-packed snow found in open tundra). However, the fast metamorphosis of snow to a strongly bonded structure allows the loose snow to become hard enough that a pile of snow can be hollowed out after leaving it for an hour or so. Some students even slept out in snow shelters they had built in the day.
The course was very successful according to the student feedback we have received.
The exam consisted of a field exercise with written and oral report (in groups of 4-6 people) and written answers to exam questions individually. The content of the field work was to perform a snow cover structure analysis in a given spot.
I think that managed to show the students a very broad range of snow
culture, ranging from snow in art, to snow building and technology and
ice physics.
Dates: 20-25 April 1997
Organizers: Arctic Centre, University of Lapland and Department of
Geophysics, University of Stockholm (credits from Helsinki University)
Site: Tarfala Glacier Research Station, Sweden
The course was held at Tarfala Station, in Northern Sweden. The station is managed by Stockholm University, Department of Geography. There were several staff and postgraduate students from the department at the station during the course who freely gave their time in helping to teach the students. The weather was quite mixed during the stay and some of the glaciological activities were cut short as a result. However much of value for the continuing research on the local glaciers was accomplished and the researchers felt that the students had done some things of real use while learning many new glaciological techniques. The background of the students was such that many had a little experience on snow or ice, but all of them found that there were many new things to learn, especially regarding safe travel techniques and crevasse rescue that will be valuable for them in future.
Initial training was given in use of basic glacier safety equipment such as crampons, ice axes, and rope techniques. additionally various rescue situations were covered and practical training given around the Tarfala base. Avalanche rescue techniques were also demonstrated and used by the students due to the loan of 6 avalanche emergency radio beacons from Rovaniemi Telemark Club. Theory of glacier mass balance and other glaciological methods used especially in relation to the Stockholm University research on Storglacierien, and the other glaciers near to Tarfala that the students would spend time working on during the course, was given by myself and other member of the course team from Stockholm University.
Although the course was only a training program, much of real value
was accomplished by the students. Several snow pits were dug and density
and temperature profiles made. This provides good spatial coverage in estimating
glacier mass balance. Three ice cores were drilled, and then dielectrically
profiled in a cold room at the station. Again the density, temperature
and stratigraphy are valuable in mass balance and investigation of the
firn/ice transition on the glacier. Steam holes were also made using a
novel steam drill to investigate the firn aquifer on the glacier. An investigation
of the snow accumulation in the Tarfala valley was made by extensive probing
and density pits .
Dates: March 25 - 1 April 1998
Organizers: Arctic Centre, University of Lapland and Department of
Geophysics, University of Stockholm
Site: Tarfala Glacier Research Station, Sweden
Much of the same training as for Event 2 was repeated for the students. However with the experience gained from the first Tarfala course we were better able to organize the logistics and the practical aspects of the teaching. The field work was done primarily by groups of 3-4 students who then attended to their project on most days. The students were able to sample the other projects and often the students did much of the teaching themselves.
A student doing dielectric profiling on
an ice core recovered by another group on the glacier.
Dates: 1-8 March 1999
Organizers: Department of Geophysics, University of Helsinki and
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
Site: Helsinki University and Lammi Biological Station, Finland
This was an extra event, as we would had enough money to organize an extra fourth and fifth event at Lammi and Tarfala, though with rather restricted funding compared with events 1, 2 and 3. The students for these extra courses provided significant funding themselves and we were supported to some degree by generous discounts from Helsinki and Stockholm Universities. The university support was given to continue the tradition we have established of running EU courses, which we hope to continue under new funding in the Fifth Framework.
This course was mainly run by Professor Matti Leppäranta from Helsinki University, as the first days of the course were held at the University. Many regions of the less favoured areas of the European Union are influenced by adverse weather conditions often involving many months with snow cover or seasonal problems with excessive snow melt in rivers. This was reflected in the wide interest in the course from across the EU. Unlike the Tarfala courses the Lammi courses attracted less experienced students, who were not so confident of their abilities on glaciers. The extensive snow work and experience they gained on this course should serve them well in future on more challenging expeditions.
As with the Event 1, where a similar curriculum was followed, the emphasis
was on the multi-disciplinary nature of snow studies, along with the practical
experience. Again several lectures in Helsinki laid the groundwork for
the field studies at Lammi.
Dates: March 9 - 16 1999
Organizers: Arctic Centre, University of Lapland and Department of
Geophysics, University of Stockholm (credits from Helsinki University)
Site: Tarfala Glacier Research Station, Sweden
As the third course on the glaciers around Tarfala, much of the detailed
work was a repeat of courses 2 and 3. Although simply a training course,
we were able to perform useful work complementing the science activities
normally carried out on the glacier. Again the density, temperature and
stratigraphy both in pits and in ice cores drilled to 10 m depth (photo
drilling.jpg) are valuable in mass balance and investigation of the firn/ice
transition on the glacier. Steam holes were also made using a novel
steam drill to investigate the firn aquifer on the glacier.
A report on ice drilling and core analysis by Andreas Hertl and Dagrun Vikhamar
A report on snow distribution and strcuture in the Tarfala valley by Mats Granskog
A report on steam drilling and firn aquifers on Storglaciären by Milly Vasic
A report on snow pits and stratigraphy in Tarfala
valley and on Storglaciären by Pirita Oksanen
