In MIT Technology Review, an interview with Matthew Sturm — polar explorer and research physical scientist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. AKA the Snow Man.
While attention has turned from cold weather fighting to desert combat, the army engineers continue to study how snow can affect change on the environment. That's no small task, either, because snow isn't just a bland, frozen liquid. It's a complex, layered material that has a direct and immediate impact on the Earth's climate, says Sturm.
"I would have been out of job years ago if the snow cover was a nice, even and uniform sheet with well-behaved properties," says Sturm. "Just look at your yard the next time it is covered by snow.
"Drifted in one place," says Sturm. "Thin in another. Melting where there is excess heat in the ground. (T)hese variations in property not only effect, but can control the important interactions of the snow and the movement of heat, water, and light."
Link (Thanks, Brad King!)
