Just Ask the Kids: Climate Resilience Engagement through Dirty Snow
Citizen Science Inquiry Investigations in Alaska and Montana
Abstract
With shore-fast sea ice disappearing along the coast of the Chukchi Sea
causing winds with deep snow drifts, variable snowpack in Bristol Bay in
Alaska, and winters without snow in West Central Montana, youth from
these areas have personal stories of environmental changes witnessed
firsthand. In a virtual “Dirty Snow” citizen science STEM engagement
program that met weekly for 5-weeks, middle and high school youth across
different time zones and cultures shared such snow stories, implemented
a protocol to measure light absorbing particles (LAPs) in snow, and
conducted their own Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the
Environment (GLOBE) snowpack and pH investigations. Teachers, parents
and researchers teamed up to support students as they asked their own
questions about how LAPs affect their local communities and measured,
collected, filtered, and analyzed snow samples. Students learned that
LAPs in snow affect the Earth’s climate system by reducing snow
reflectivity, affecting albedo. On a local scale, LAPs capture heat
energy leading to snow loss. Students wondered if LAPs also affect water
quality. Middle school students from Shishmaref, Alaska (located on an
island in the Chukchi Sea) selected snow sampling locations in areas
important to their community’s resilience to climate change, such as the
sole water supply lagoon. The Shishmaref students shared their results
with their community, showcased their project in both the GLOBE
International Virtual Science Symposium and a tribal climate resilience
webinar, and have been featured in the July 2021 Association of Women in
Science Magazine issue on sustainability and innovation. In this
session, we will share the lessons learned from multiple perspectives -
including surveyed youth participants - on conducting a remote
synchronous and asynchronous STEM and climate resilience engagement on a
short timescale.