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Low-cost temperature sensors, tennis balls to monitor mountain snowpack

Fictional secret agent Angus MacGyver knew that tough situations demand ingenuity. Jessica Lundquist takes a similar approach to studying snowfall. The University of Washington assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering uses dime-sized temperature sensors, first developed for the refrigerated food industry, and tennis balls. In summer months she attaches the sensors to tennis balls that are weighted with gravel, and uses a dog-ball launcher to propel the devices high into alpine trees where they will record winter temperatures.

This isn’t TV spy work — it’s science. Lundquist studies mountain precipitation to learn how changes in snowfall and snowmelt will affect the communities and environments at lower elevations. If the air temperature is above 32 degrees Fahrenheit the precipitation will fall as rain, but if it’s below freezing, it will be snow.

Hannah Hickey [email protected]

Full Story: http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=54337

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