The Nenana River Project
The Nenana River Project Kim Morris ([email protected])
Students explore the natural history of their local river The annual cycle of freeze-up and break-up of rivers is an integral part of life in rural Alaska. Freezeup, break-up and the duration of ice and open water affect transport and communications, hunting, fishing, trapping and recreation. Freeze-up, break-up and duration are also important proxies for climate variability and change. Two University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists (Martin Jeffries and Kim Morris) viewed river ice as an ideal medium for educating K-12 teachers and students, and informal learners, about scientific inquiry, snow and ice processes, and Arctic environmental change. They chose to focus their initial efforts on the Nenana River in the Denali School District where there are K12 schools at Cantwell, Healy and Anderson.
The Nenana River
Workshops held at the Murie Science and Learning Center in Denali National Park and Preserve in Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 were attended by teachers, interested parents and personnel from the Denali Education Center. Sidney Stephens (UAF) evaluated the project.
The Nenana River is located in interior Alaska. The 140-mile-long river originates as meltwater from the Nenana Glacier in the Alaska Range (part of the bright blue area on the Landsat image). It flows southwest towards Cantwell and then turns northwest and through the Alaska Range. The river enters the Tanana River just west of the town of Nenana. The river forms the eastern boundary of the Denali National Park and Preserve. Another source of water for the Nenana River is the 31 mile long Yanert Fork. It begins at Yanert Glacier in the Alaska Range and flows west, joining the Nenana River 14 miles southeast of Healy.
The Nenana River Project
Page 2 of 6
The Nenana River in the Winter
Standard photos taken near Healy
Across
The purpose of the winter ice observation program was to monitor the freeze-up and break-up processes on the river. These observations were used to determine the timing and duration of the annual ice cover at a specific site on the river and compare the observations between sites and/or between years of observation. Freeze-up was defined as the period from initial ice formation to complete, i.e., 100%, ice cover. Break-up was defined as the period between the onset of snowmelt to the complete disappearance of the ice. The
period of 100% ice cover in the Winter to 0% ice cover in the Spring is the ice cover duration. The ice observations were taken at the same location on a regular basis. The observations were a combination of a standard set of photos and notes on a data sheet. Mark Martin’s science class at TriValley School in Healy made ice observations over 3 ice seasons. This is the only multi-year ice data set acquired by the project. The images on these two pages illustrate that the freeze-up at this location was not always an orderly, linear process.
Downstream
30 October 2009
2 November 2009
4 November 2009
6 November 2009
9 November 2009
11 November 2009
19 December 2009
21 December 2009
1 January 2010
6 January 2010
8 January 2010
18 January 2010
Upstream
Find all of the project’s ice observation data at http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ river_ice/ice.html.
A time series of across-stream photographs of freeze-up observations by the Tri-Valley School students.
The Nenana River Project
Page 3 of 6
Common Ice Forms: Border ice (Freeze-up)
No data were acquired between these two dates. 30 October 2007
12 November 2007
Frazil Ice cakes and floes (Freeze-up)
31 October 2008
6 November 2008
11 November 2008
A comparison of freeze-up on the Nenana River in 2007 and 2008 at the Healy site.
The images below show the break-up of the Nenana River. In 2008, the river ice slowly melted in place and was gone by 13 May. The ice rubble in the 1 May 2009 image indicates that ice chunks were deposited near the bridge. They
probably came from upstream when the water level was higher and left near the bridge when the water level went down again. The ice rubble in the 5 May 2010 image indicates that a similar event took place during that year’s break-up.
Meltwater channel (Break-up)
Ice Floes (Break-up)
1 May 2008
5 May 2008
13 May 2008
Evaluator comment:
28 April 2009
1 May 2009
8 May 2009
3 May 2010
5 May 2010
10 May 2010
A comparison of break-up at Healy in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
“Although the numbers are small, those participating are overwhelmingly supportive of the project and believe that the activities are interesting and appropriate to their teaching needs. They especially like the openness of the instructors and clarity and simplicity of the protocols themselves. They also believe that it is important to involve their students in this work as a way of both addressing science process skills and learning more about the local environment.”
The Nenana River Project
Page 4 of 6
The Nenana River in the Summer Each summer during 2008-2011, Sam, an elementary student at TriValley School, sampled the water in the Nenana River with a water quality kit provided to him by the project. He used the conductivity probe to measure the water temperature and the dissolved ions. He also took water samples and analyzed them to determine the suspended sediment load. "I have had a lot of fun doing this project! I want to keep studying the Nenana River. I want to continue the project for next summer." Sam .”
In the first year, Sam had only one sampling site (Denali Education Center or McKinley Village). As he gained confidence making measurements, he expanded his sampling network to answer his own research questions. These included:
Sam measures the dissolved ions in the Nenana River with a conductivity probe.
Is the water quality of the Nenana River the same in the same place from year to year? Is the water quality of the Nenana River, the same from place to place along the river in the same year? Is there a significant difference in the amounts of dissolved ions and suspended sediment in a glacier-fed river and a non-glacier-fed creek?
Sam and his brother Ben use a bottle on a pole to obtain water samples of the Nenana River.
The graphs below begin to answer the first two questions. The data taken at Denali Education Center (DEC) show that the dissolved ions (in parts per million, PPM) and -1 the total suspended sediment (TSS, in grams per liter, g L ) were similar in 2009 and 2010. This is not the case at the sampling site where Riley Creek (RC) enters the river. Why? The likely answer is that the water at DEC comes primarily from the Nenana Glacier while at the RC site the Nenan River has also received a substantial amount of water from Yanert Glacier, which carries much more sediment. Notice the inverse relationship between dissolved and suspended loads – when one is high the other is low.
“I am at Denali Discovery Camp this week. They let me do a talk on my project. I told them it is important to learn about your environment. I got to talk and show them my site at DEC and I let each person do one sampling thing. I showed them one sample to show difference.”
See all of Sam’s research at http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/river_ice/water.html.
The Nenana River Project
Page 5 of 6
Snow and Ice Day at Otto Lake near Healy A Snow and Ice Day was held on 10 March 2010 at Tri-Valley School, in Healy, AK, for Ms. DeBlauw’s (ALISON) and Mr. Martin’s (Nenana River Project) classes (33 students in all) by Morris and Jeffries. The question to be answered by the day’s activities was: What are the snow and ice properties like on and near Otto Lake?
Students head out onto the ice on Otto Lake.
During a field trip to Otto Lake, a short drive from the school, the students (grades 4-5 and 6-8) made a number of measurements along two 100 m transects on the lake and two shorter transects on the adjacent land (one in the trees and one in an open area). On the land they: 1) measured snow depths; 2) took snow samples to calculate snow density; and 3) dug snow pits.
My goals for the day were for the students to begin to put the pieces of this research project together: to experience working with the scientist; to collect more scientific data and analyze it; and to have an authentic scientific work session. My goals were met.” “... taking the data and graphing it, made their science data something they could interpret and talk about. I think [graphing data] in the library helped all of them to gain skill in making sense of science data.”
Student comments: “Snow and Ice Day was great event! Thank your for the instructing, mentoring, inspiring.”
“Thank you for giving up your time to teach use about snow and ice on Otto Lake. My favorite thing we did was making a hole in the ice with the auger. I also found a beaver hole in the ice. You are awesome scientists.”
The students spent about 3 hours making their field measurements before returning to the school
Students analyze their data in the school library.
They presented their results to their peers and attempted to develop a coherent “story” about the snow and ice on and around Otto Lake.
A full summary of Snow and Ice Day can be found at: http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/alison/ALISON _StudentWorkshop_1.html.
“They were able to make the measurements, see the transects, dig the pits, and analyze the data. That puts the pieces of the puzzle together for them.”
“Thank you for coming and helping out at Otto Lake. I had fun. I enjoyed doing graphs. I loved my job. I got to do snow depth and temperature.”
On the lake they: 1) measured snow depths; 2) took snow samples to calculate snow density; 3) dug a snow pits; and 4) drilled holes in the ice.
After lunch, the students convened in the school library to weigh their snow samples, discuss their data within their group, decide how to graph their data and made their graph(s).
Teacher comments:
“Thank you for coming to our school and planning a field trip to Otto Lake to measure ice or snow. It was really fun and I really enjoyed it. What I think is the best was the difference between ice from a lake and ice from a river. The lake has glassy ice and ice with bubbles on top. The river is all glassy and the lake ice has spirals and river ice has no spirals. It was one of the best trips.” “I really had fun augering. I t was really fun breaking through the ice. It was very fun. Hopefully, we will go again, but if we do maybe we will go for longer, maybe 3 hours. That would be very fun.”
Students present their findings to their classmates.
“Thank you for coming to Otto Lake with the 4th-8th grade classes. I enjoyed going to a different lake with more kids.”
Project Summary The Nenana River Project succeeded in its main goals of engaging teachers and students in research of their river environment and enhancing their science skills and knowledge. A river ice observation protocol was developed and improved with teacher and student input. Using this protocol in the field gave the students an authentic research experience. Geophysical Institute University of Alaska Fairbanks 903 Koyukuk Drive Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 http://www.gi.alaska.edu/
Multi-year data sets allowed the teacher (and students) at Healy to learn from experience. The increase in the number of the observations during both freeze-up and break-up in years 2 and 3 made it obvious that the teacher had come to appreciate the necessity for a higher frequency of site visits in order to capture a complete description of these processes. Teacher workshops provided content knowledge as a background for making river ice and snow observations and water quality measurements. The training on doing the protocol allowed the teachers to implement them with their students and led to successful river ice observation campaigns. These workshops provided the project scientists and teachers with opportunities to exchange ideas and learn about teacher needs. The project scientists made classroom visits at the beginning of the freezeup season (late September/early October). This allowed the students to meet the scientists and to ask questions about the project. The project scientists stressed that the students were doing “real science” and were the scientists’ collaborators in this project. Although the planned spring workshops for students were not held, the Snow and Ice Day at the Tri-Valley School for the Nenana River Project and ALISON students met many of the workshop goals. It provided students at different grade levels (upper-elementary and middle school) with the opportunity to learn in a collaborative fashion while participating new activities that complemented the observations and measurements they were making during class time and to work with the project scientists. The summer water quality portion of the project was characterized by person-to-person communications. This became the mode of interaction between the scientist and the students because the work was done mostly when school was not in session. The teachers and students assembled datasets that have real scientific value: The winter data sets provided some insight into the freeze-up and break-up processes on the Nenana River, including the frequency of on-ice flooding and removal of snow from the river ice cover. Sam’s summer water quality measurements have pointed to the role Yanert Glacier plays in the sediment load of the Nenana River. His data show a clear difference in TSS values at sites located south (DEC) and north (Riley Creek and Glitter Gulch Bridge) of the confluence of the Yanert Fork and the Nenana River. In addition, he found a general increase in water conductivity (and TDS) over the course of the open water season. As far as the project scientists are aware, none of these kinds of measurements had been made on the Nenana River prior this project.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Nenana River Project.
The Nenana River Project ice observation procedure was expanded to include lake ice for the GLOBE Seasons and Biomes’ Ice Seasonality Protocol.
Students explore the natural history of their local river The annual cycle of freeze-up and break-up of rivers is an integral part of life in rural Alaska. Freezeup, break-up and the duration of ice and open water affect transport and communications, hunting, fishing, trapping and recreation. Freeze-up, break-up and duration are also important proxies for climate variability and change. Two University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists (Martin Jeffries and Kim Morris) viewed river ice as an ideal medium for educating K-12 teachers and students, and informal learners, about scientific inquiry, snow and ice processes, and Arctic environmental change. They chose to focus their initial efforts on the Nenana River in the Denali School District where there are K12 schools at Cantwell, Healy and Anderson.
The Nenana River
Workshops held at the Murie Science and Learning Center in Denali National Park and Preserve in Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 were attended by teachers, interested parents and personnel from the Denali Education Center. Sidney Stephens (UAF) evaluated the project.
The Nenana River is located in interior Alaska. The 140-mile-long river originates as meltwater from the Nenana Glacier in the Alaska Range (part of the bright blue area on the Landsat image). It flows southwest towards Cantwell and then turns northwest and through the Alaska Range. The river enters the Tanana River just west of the town of Nenana. The river forms the eastern boundary of the Denali National Park and Preserve. Another source of water for the Nenana River is the 31 mile long Yanert Fork. It begins at Yanert Glacier in the Alaska Range and flows west, joining the Nenana River 14 miles southeast of Healy.
The Nenana River Project
Page 2 of 6
The Nenana River in the Winter
Standard photos taken near Healy
Across
The purpose of the winter ice observation program was to monitor the freeze-up and break-up processes on the river. These observations were used to determine the timing and duration of the annual ice cover at a specific site on the river and compare the observations between sites and/or between years of observation. Freeze-up was defined as the period from initial ice formation to complete, i.e., 100%, ice cover. Break-up was defined as the period between the onset of snowmelt to the complete disappearance of the ice. The
period of 100% ice cover in the Winter to 0% ice cover in the Spring is the ice cover duration. The ice observations were taken at the same location on a regular basis. The observations were a combination of a standard set of photos and notes on a data sheet. Mark Martin’s science class at TriValley School in Healy made ice observations over 3 ice seasons. This is the only multi-year ice data set acquired by the project. The images on these two pages illustrate that the freeze-up at this location was not always an orderly, linear process.
Downstream
30 October 2009
2 November 2009
4 November 2009
6 November 2009
9 November 2009
11 November 2009
19 December 2009
21 December 2009
1 January 2010
6 January 2010
8 January 2010
18 January 2010
Upstream
Find all of the project’s ice observation data at http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ river_ice/ice.html.
A time series of across-stream photographs of freeze-up observations by the Tri-Valley School students.
The Nenana River Project
Page 3 of 6
Common Ice Forms: Border ice (Freeze-up)
No data were acquired between these two dates. 30 October 2007
12 November 2007
Frazil Ice cakes and floes (Freeze-up)
31 October 2008
6 November 2008
11 November 2008
A comparison of freeze-up on the Nenana River in 2007 and 2008 at the Healy site.
The images below show the break-up of the Nenana River. In 2008, the river ice slowly melted in place and was gone by 13 May. The ice rubble in the 1 May 2009 image indicates that ice chunks were deposited near the bridge. They
probably came from upstream when the water level was higher and left near the bridge when the water level went down again. The ice rubble in the 5 May 2010 image indicates that a similar event took place during that year’s break-up.
Meltwater channel (Break-up)
Ice Floes (Break-up)
1 May 2008
5 May 2008
13 May 2008
Evaluator comment:
28 April 2009
1 May 2009
8 May 2009
3 May 2010
5 May 2010
10 May 2010
A comparison of break-up at Healy in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
“Although the numbers are small, those participating are overwhelmingly supportive of the project and believe that the activities are interesting and appropriate to their teaching needs. They especially like the openness of the instructors and clarity and simplicity of the protocols themselves. They also believe that it is important to involve their students in this work as a way of both addressing science process skills and learning more about the local environment.”
The Nenana River Project
Page 4 of 6
The Nenana River in the Summer Each summer during 2008-2011, Sam, an elementary student at TriValley School, sampled the water in the Nenana River with a water quality kit provided to him by the project. He used the conductivity probe to measure the water temperature and the dissolved ions. He also took water samples and analyzed them to determine the suspended sediment load. "I have had a lot of fun doing this project! I want to keep studying the Nenana River. I want to continue the project for next summer." Sam .”
In the first year, Sam had only one sampling site (Denali Education Center or McKinley Village). As he gained confidence making measurements, he expanded his sampling network to answer his own research questions. These included:
Sam measures the dissolved ions in the Nenana River with a conductivity probe.
Is the water quality of the Nenana River the same in the same place from year to year? Is the water quality of the Nenana River, the same from place to place along the river in the same year? Is there a significant difference in the amounts of dissolved ions and suspended sediment in a glacier-fed river and a non-glacier-fed creek?
Sam and his brother Ben use a bottle on a pole to obtain water samples of the Nenana River.
The graphs below begin to answer the first two questions. The data taken at Denali Education Center (DEC) show that the dissolved ions (in parts per million, PPM) and -1 the total suspended sediment (TSS, in grams per liter, g L ) were similar in 2009 and 2010. This is not the case at the sampling site where Riley Creek (RC) enters the river. Why? The likely answer is that the water at DEC comes primarily from the Nenana Glacier while at the RC site the Nenan River has also received a substantial amount of water from Yanert Glacier, which carries much more sediment. Notice the inverse relationship between dissolved and suspended loads – when one is high the other is low.
“I am at Denali Discovery Camp this week. They let me do a talk on my project. I told them it is important to learn about your environment. I got to talk and show them my site at DEC and I let each person do one sampling thing. I showed them one sample to show difference.”
See all of Sam’s research at http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/river_ice/water.html.
The Nenana River Project
Page 5 of 6
Snow and Ice Day at Otto Lake near Healy A Snow and Ice Day was held on 10 March 2010 at Tri-Valley School, in Healy, AK, for Ms. DeBlauw’s (ALISON) and Mr. Martin’s (Nenana River Project) classes (33 students in all) by Morris and Jeffries. The question to be answered by the day’s activities was: What are the snow and ice properties like on and near Otto Lake?
Students head out onto the ice on Otto Lake.
During a field trip to Otto Lake, a short drive from the school, the students (grades 4-5 and 6-8) made a number of measurements along two 100 m transects on the lake and two shorter transects on the adjacent land (one in the trees and one in an open area). On the land they: 1) measured snow depths; 2) took snow samples to calculate snow density; and 3) dug snow pits.
My goals for the day were for the students to begin to put the pieces of this research project together: to experience working with the scientist; to collect more scientific data and analyze it; and to have an authentic scientific work session. My goals were met.” “... taking the data and graphing it, made their science data something they could interpret and talk about. I think [graphing data] in the library helped all of them to gain skill in making sense of science data.”
Student comments: “Snow and Ice Day was great event! Thank your for the instructing, mentoring, inspiring.”
“Thank you for giving up your time to teach use about snow and ice on Otto Lake. My favorite thing we did was making a hole in the ice with the auger. I also found a beaver hole in the ice. You are awesome scientists.”
The students spent about 3 hours making their field measurements before returning to the school
Students analyze their data in the school library.
They presented their results to their peers and attempted to develop a coherent “story” about the snow and ice on and around Otto Lake.
A full summary of Snow and Ice Day can be found at: http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/alison/ALISON _StudentWorkshop_1.html.
“They were able to make the measurements, see the transects, dig the pits, and analyze the data. That puts the pieces of the puzzle together for them.”
“Thank you for coming and helping out at Otto Lake. I had fun. I enjoyed doing graphs. I loved my job. I got to do snow depth and temperature.”
On the lake they: 1) measured snow depths; 2) took snow samples to calculate snow density; 3) dug a snow pits; and 4) drilled holes in the ice.
After lunch, the students convened in the school library to weigh their snow samples, discuss their data within their group, decide how to graph their data and made their graph(s).
Teacher comments:
“Thank you for coming to our school and planning a field trip to Otto Lake to measure ice or snow. It was really fun and I really enjoyed it. What I think is the best was the difference between ice from a lake and ice from a river. The lake has glassy ice and ice with bubbles on top. The river is all glassy and the lake ice has spirals and river ice has no spirals. It was one of the best trips.” “I really had fun augering. I t was really fun breaking through the ice. It was very fun. Hopefully, we will go again, but if we do maybe we will go for longer, maybe 3 hours. That would be very fun.”
Students present their findings to their classmates.
“Thank you for coming to Otto Lake with the 4th-8th grade classes. I enjoyed going to a different lake with more kids.”
Project Summary The Nenana River Project succeeded in its main goals of engaging teachers and students in research of their river environment and enhancing their science skills and knowledge. A river ice observation protocol was developed and improved with teacher and student input. Using this protocol in the field gave the students an authentic research experience. Geophysical Institute University of Alaska Fairbanks 903 Koyukuk Drive Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 http://www.gi.alaska.edu/
Multi-year data sets allowed the teacher (and students) at Healy to learn from experience. The increase in the number of the observations during both freeze-up and break-up in years 2 and 3 made it obvious that the teacher had come to appreciate the necessity for a higher frequency of site visits in order to capture a complete description of these processes. Teacher workshops provided content knowledge as a background for making river ice and snow observations and water quality measurements. The training on doing the protocol allowed the teachers to implement them with their students and led to successful river ice observation campaigns. These workshops provided the project scientists and teachers with opportunities to exchange ideas and learn about teacher needs. The project scientists made classroom visits at the beginning of the freezeup season (late September/early October). This allowed the students to meet the scientists and to ask questions about the project. The project scientists stressed that the students were doing “real science” and were the scientists’ collaborators in this project. Although the planned spring workshops for students were not held, the Snow and Ice Day at the Tri-Valley School for the Nenana River Project and ALISON students met many of the workshop goals. It provided students at different grade levels (upper-elementary and middle school) with the opportunity to learn in a collaborative fashion while participating new activities that complemented the observations and measurements they were making during class time and to work with the project scientists. The summer water quality portion of the project was characterized by person-to-person communications. This became the mode of interaction between the scientist and the students because the work was done mostly when school was not in session. The teachers and students assembled datasets that have real scientific value: The winter data sets provided some insight into the freeze-up and break-up processes on the Nenana River, including the frequency of on-ice flooding and removal of snow from the river ice cover. Sam’s summer water quality measurements have pointed to the role Yanert Glacier plays in the sediment load of the Nenana River. His data show a clear difference in TSS values at sites located south (DEC) and north (Riley Creek and Glitter Gulch Bridge) of the confluence of the Yanert Fork and the Nenana River. In addition, he found a general increase in water conductivity (and TDS) over the course of the open water season. As far as the project scientists are aware, none of these kinds of measurements had been made on the Nenana River prior this project.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Nenana River Project.
The Nenana River Project ice observation procedure was expanded to include lake ice for the GLOBE Seasons and Biomes’ Ice Seasonality Protocol.
