Microscopy of High Altitude Wilderness Snow

[Sure Squintsalot]

As the effects of a prolonged regional drought are settling in, the snowfields of the western US are getting hammered by airborne dusts blown in from ever widening deserts. I thought it might be interesting to sample the remote, local snow and see what falls with and on top of our snowpack.

Luckily, getting above 10,000 feet is not too difficult and an hour of snowshoeing got me to a pristine, untrammeled snowfield tucked in the midst of a burn scar. The snow looked as pure as, well, the driven snow. I packed about 50 lbs of it into a hefty sack, stuffed it into a haul bag, and grunted back to the car.

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Back home, I let the snow melt over three days, occasionally drawing some of the water off and letting the bits and pieces settle to the bottom of the deluxe, super sophisticated, newly acquired "plankton separator".

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A quick analysis revealed all kinds of things in that snow: gobs of mineral dusts, animal bits, bacteria(!), even a dead deer.

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[Sure Squintsalot]

I did NOT actually see the dead deer under the microscope...

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Also, many MANY things that I could not identify that were most certainly alive! Surprisingly, there's not much literature available on the micro-scale analyses of snow packs. Plenty of research though on chemistry and physics of snowpack contents.

Video to follow!

[MichaelG.]

.

True dedication, and a great project

MichaelG.

[Phill Brown]

Thanks for sharing.
Someone I had the greatest respect for said there are only 2 types of people,those that do, and those that don't.
The Brother QL-570 label printer is worth the investment for permanent slides.
As the collection grows it's great to keep track of what worked.
Canada balsam with xylene is very cost effective permanent mount. It's not the only option but stands the test of time.
For ringing Hammerite satin black in a tin sticks to glass well.
Black polish shellac is stable but doesn't like solvent cleaning and is brittle.
Your efforts are inspiring.
Trudging through snow where deer don't make it isn't something I have any plans to replicate.

[Hobbyst46]

Thanks for sharing.
Someone I had the greatest respect for said there are only 2 types of people,those that do, and those that don't.
The Brother QL-570 label printer is worth the investment for permanent slides.
As the collection grows it's great to keep track of what worked.
Canada balsam with xylene is very cost effective permanent mount. It's not the only option but stands the test of time.
For ringing Hammerite satin black in a tin sticks to glass well.
Black polish shellac is stable but doesn't like solvent cleaning and is brittle.
Your efforts are inspiring.
Trudging through snow where deer don't make it isn't something I have any plans to replicate.

Hammerite direct-on-rust paint is also a great ringing stuff, it even resists immersion oil (an exposure of an hour or so).

[Phill Brown]

Direct to rust metal paint is what it says on the tin.
Satin black is a bit of a safe choice, no reason not to add some colour.

[charlie g]

Thanks for a terrific microscopy hike of snow fields, for observing wind transported particles/objects. Any idea of depth of the snowfield when you ( I see red snow-shoes, and yellow snow-shoes...I hope you had a buddy on your microscopy hike), your buddy and you collected samples? There is a collapsible/ telescoping pole for snow-pack depth soundings..a simple yard stick works..well only for a yard snow depth.

Samples from immediate surface snow, then samples from 12 inch depth horizon , then samples from 24 inch depth horizon...might offer patterns in the imported materials the snow field is tolerating.

I think of depth of your collection field snows, as your image of deer antlers does,nt offer clues as to wether: shed antlers...or an entire skull with attached antlers.

The first image of your burn-scar collection field shows well plumped out conifers in the background...perhaps some of these conifers are close spaced...if a snow pack over 2-3-4 feet depth...well these conifer tree groups pose potential for 'hazardous snow traps/ snow chimneys'..interlaced conifer bows covered by snow-pack are a hazard snow-shoes do not protect against.

Thank you, thank you for this microscopy collection hike. Please go for surface only sample containers, then graduated depth horizon sample containers..and sadly...look for microplastic debris in your snow microscopy observations.

If you have the time/ and are in this 'neck of the woods' after spring melt has long progressed, consider a return collection hike for top layer snows. Resamples of the spring diminished snow packs will offer concentrated particle object collection. Please look for microplastic particles and fibers. First time , today, our spring-peeper tree frogs have started to chorus, our neighbor Trilliums have poked up from leaf litter, our ground bees in the meadow are swarming about at ground level. Thanks for this microscopy collection hike, hope to see your video image captures of live organisms from that snow field. charlie g/ finger lakes/US

[Sure Squintsalot]

My first microscopy video!



Ok, it's not a stunner, but it might be interesting to someone out there.

Any idea of depth of the snowfield when you ( I see red snow-shoes, and yellow snow-shoes...I hope you had a buddy on your microscopy hike), your buddy and you collected samples?

Samples from immediate surface snow, then samples from 12 inch depth horizon , then samples from 24 inch depth horizon...might offer patterns in the imported materials the snow field is tolerating.

Charlie, the snow was about 1.5m deep (4.5 feet) deep. You're right about collecting samples from discrete intervals to establish patterns. However, I'd need to establish wind patterns and magnitudes, time intervals, and other background geographic information for it to make any sense. Never mind the statistical analysis and measuring protocols for a proper calculation of particle concentrations. I'd also need to have prior knowledge of what, exactly, I was looking at. I simply took a large "grab sample" ensuring I'd have enough particulates to look at. Admittedly, I did find a weathered layer at 1 meter deep that clearly had more dust on it than the rest of the mass.

I think of depth of your collection field snows, as your image of deer antlers does,nt offer clues as to wether: shed antlers...or an entire skull with attached antlers.

I yarded on it pretty good hoping for a shed, but it felt pretty solidly locked in. We have enough sheds in the house without adding any more. Out of respect for the bears and coyotes that will find the rest of the carcass below, I left it as it was.

The first image of your burn-scar collection field shows well plumped out conifers in the background...perhaps some of these conifers are close spaced...if a snow pack over 2-3-4 feet depth...well these conifer tree groups pose potential for 'hazardous snow traps/ snow chimneys'..interlaced conifer bows covered by snow-pack are a hazard snow-shoes do not protect against.

"Tree holes" are a real danger in many snowpacked western forests!

Some take-aways of a quick literature search:
1) Biological INPs (Ice Nucleating Particles) in the atmosphere are a thing! They're not unusual, and may be responsible for a large fraction of cloud and ice formation processes.
2) At colder temperatures (-20C), mineral dusts dominate ice nucleation, at warmer temps, bacterias dominate.
3) In addition to bacterias, biologic INPs include fungal spores, pollen, algae, bugs, leaf litter, lichens, viruses, and even bio-specific molecules.
4) INPs from as far away as the Sahara and Asia have been found in Western American snowpacks. Dust from China's Taklamakan Desert can circle the globe in 13 days!
5) No need to invoke Asian desert dusts in our snow, though. We have our own extensive deserts just to the west of us!

A recent plankton grab in an Arizona reservoir yields some surprising connections to stuff I found in this snowpack. Write-up to come!

[MichaelG.]

My first microscopy video!
…
Ok, it's not a stunner, but it might be interesting to someone out there.

What a superb presentation! … That surely deserves to attract a lot of attention.
Lots of honest questions raised about the wonders of planet Earth’s systems
… it seems perfectly pitched for a modern audience.

MichaelG.

[Phill Brown]

Very much onwards and upwards.
The captions are a little small on my 6" phone.
Sound doesn't work on Y/T on the PC with 55" plasma but hopefully I'll remember to go back and watch again.

[Sure Squintsalot]

The captions are a little small on my 6" phone.

It helps to squint.

A lot.

[Phill Brown]

The captions are a little small on my 6" phone.

It helps to squint.

A lot.

Viewed on 55 " plasma 1080 Dolby cinema.
Colours hold up well.
Some dust in the light path on some frames.
Not sure about the fibres, maybe cotton?
Definitely worth everything you have put into the project.
I'm looking forward to 3D coming back around.
I built the prototype electronics for 3D using LCD
Shutter which splits the aperture with a single lens, no reason it wouldn't give a fair rendering of 3D effect with a microscope.
16k isn't going to gain a busting lot,I'm already using glasses and utilising the on board squint feature.

[charlie g]

Thanks for the video and further explanation of your collection hike, 'squint-'.

It would help to share the microscope objective spec. you observed with (?20X, 40X, 60x? objective?).

The 'remain in rather tight area of space as those small particles jostle '..well it does not suggest biologic organisms 'moving in your wet mount slide prep'. So a key mention would be : what magnification are you observing with...to better define what all these similarly 'jostling in a tight space ' particles size ranges are...too similar a 'jostle in place'...across many areas...to suggest these particles are manifesting 'biologic motion'. Even 'brownian motion' manifests as a more random walk...not all particles symetrically jostling in all areas of an observed field imaged, as you excellent video capture illustrates.

Colloidal particles ( colloidal size range a crude sense of particle size...e.g. tobacco smoke is of colloidal sized particles in air. Clays mixed in water often offers colloidal sized particles...etc. .)...colloidal particles often react to the water added for a wet mount microscope slide prep...so please share what magnification microscope objective your video capture used>

The motion of those particles does not seem to be 'biologic motion of bacteria'. Thanks for this great field collection microscopy, charlie g/ finger lakes/US