Project Report
Spend a week training to measure snow in the French Alps? This was the opportunity offered by the 9th Snow Science Winter School to international 29 students, from February 23 to March 1, 2025. A group of 10 international researchers, experts in different snow-related topics, were invited to teach and supervise the students.
The Snow Science Winter School, launched in 2015, is a field-oriented school that teaches snow measurement methods to the new generation of young snow scientists. The measurement techniques include traditional snowpack characterization, optical measurements of snow reflectance, snow penetrometer, gravimetric measurements, as well as various remote sensing and laboratory techniques. It is co-organized by the Snow Research Center, CNRM (France), Snow and Avalanche Research Center (Switzerland) and the Finnish Meteorological Institute (Finland). The course corresponds to 3 ETCS-Points.
The 2025 edition took place in the “Jardin du Lautaret”, at 2100 m elevation surrounded by high peaks, allowing one to experience field measurements in a unique alpine setting. During the first days, we introduced the different instruments for snow characterization in the field, followed by practice by the students. Lectures on the fundamentals of snow physics and snow characterization, including remote sensing and snowpack modeling, were provided (6 hours in total) along demonstration of the instruments to measure snow properties. The following days were devoted to learning how to conduct a measurement campaign in the field, from planning to carrying out the measurements and processing the data. For that, the students were assigned to groups of 3 to 4 and after discussion with the lecturers they define a specific scientific question that they want to address with the measurements. The study sites were within an hour's walk away, under the supervision of mountain guides. The measurements were designed to answer a scientific question decided by each group, such as studying snowpack spatial variability for example. On the last day of school, the students presented their measurement campaign and results in a 10-minute slide show. Finally, they prepared a report at home describing the methods, results and analysis of their fieldwork, based on their scientific question.
Stay tuned for the snow school 2026, which will be held in Davos, Switzerland (SLF/WSL).
Highlights
- A one-week gathering of 29 international snow science students
- Training on snow measurements in a high alpine environment, from field work planning to data analysis
- Field practice with state-of-the-art snow characterization techniques
Date and Location:
February 2025 | Col du Lautaret, France
IASC Working Group / Committees funding the Project:
- Cryosphere WG
Project Lead
Neige Calonne, CNRM/ Snow research center, Grenoble, France
Year funded by IASC
2024
Project Status
Completed