Putting the Capital ‘A’ in CoCoRaHS:

A Pilot Program to Measure Albedo Using

the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow

Network

Elizabeth Burakowski, UNH-DurhamJack Dibb, UNH-Durham

Mary Stampone, UNH-Durham

Cameron Wake, UNH-Durham

Photo: Michelle DayPhoto: Midge Eliassen Photo: Midge Eliassen

Photo by Midge Eliassen Photo by Midge EliassenPhoto by Sue Pike Photo by Sue Pike

Putting the Capital ‘A’ in CoCoRAHS:

A Pilot Program to Measure Albedo Using

the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow

NetworkAlbedo

^

Elizabeth Burakowski, UNH-DurhamJack Dibb, UNH-Durham

Mary Stampone, UNH-Durham

Cameron Wake, UNH-Durham

Photo by Midge Eliassen Photo by Midge EliassenPhoto by Sue Pike Photo by Sue Pike

Outline

• Motivation

• Sampling Approach

• The CoCoRAHS Albedo Network

• Results

• Future Work

• Acknowledgements

3

Motivation

4

Me

Twin

sister

Life-long obsession with albedo that began in

1986

Surface Albedo

Albedo = reflectivity, or the ratio of upwelling to downwelling solar radiation

A = Sup/Sdown

Sup Sup

High Albedo Low albedo

Sdown Sdown

5

0.8 0.2

Foster et al., 2010. Wildlands and Woodlands

6

Motivation

Mitchell et al. 2004

• State-wide effort to measure theinteractions among land use,ecosystems, climate, and society in New Hampshire.

• New Hampshire is most tree-covered state in the United States (88.9% tree cover).

• Pressures to reduce forest cover:– local food and agriculture movement

– development and urbanization

– wood-fired power plants and home heating7

Motivation

Research Approach

8

• Satellite

• Hyperspectral flights

• Canopy Towers &

Intensive Monitoring

• Climate ModelingMoscone West 3010

Wed 11:50-12:05

• CoCoRaHS

Volunteers

The CoCoRAHS Albedo

Network

9

Season 2011/2012:

• Eighteen seasoned

CoCoRAHS

precipitation

observers

• Two universities

The CoCoRAHS Albedo

Network

10

Season 2011/2012:

• Eighteen seasoned

CoCoRAHS

precipitation

observers

• Two universities

Season 2012/2013:

• Nine returning

CoCoRAHS albedo

observers

• Three universities

• Three high schools

• Three middle schools

The Sampling Kit

11

Field Notebook

IR Temperature

Gun

Pyranometer on

Custom Leveling

Boom

Metal Scraper

2-ft and 4-ft

Snow Tubes

with Caps

Digital

Hanging

Scale

Durable

Carrying

Case

• Seven school

trained between 2-

Nov-2012 and 30-

Nov-2012

• Recruiting five

more schools in

New Hampshire in

December 2012

• 45 min sessions

- 15 min intro

- 30 min

equipment

training

Training Sessions

12Photos courtesy of Dr. Susan Pike

www.cocorahs-albedo.org

13

• Training slides

• Online data entry and data storage

• Interactive graphing & mapping for

temporal and spatial comparisons

• The scientist’s blog: ‘Liz’s Lab Notebook’

• Lesson plans using the sampling kit and

data

Lesson Plan Development

14

• Co-creating lessons with the teachers to tailor to

each classroom and grade level

• Using real data collected from training session on

9-Nov-2012 to compare snow, grass, and

pavement

Objectives:

Define albedo

Calculate albedo (A = Sup/Sdown)

Compare albedo and temperature of different

surfaces

Unit conversions (e.g. oF to oC; lb to kg)

Calculate density (D = m/v)

Apogee

MP-200

Kipp and Zonen

CMA6

15

Results: Instrument Comparison

vs.

Results: Albedo & Snow Depth

16

Results: Albedo & Snow Density

17

R=0.41

FieldSpec4

Spectroradiometer

• Measure snow-covered

and snow-free spectral

albedo

• Provided through ASD

Alexander Goetz

Instrument Support

Fellowship

18

CoCoRaHS Albedo Network

Results: Spectral Albedo

Conclusions

20

• Apogee MP-200 low-cost albedometer comparable to

Kipp and Zonen CMA6

• Albedo increases logarithmically with snow depth

• Albedo decreases linearly with snow density, likely due

to increases in grain size

• CoCoRAHS Albedo shows great promise to provide

useful albedo and snow data for research and

education applications

Photo: Midge Eliassen Photo: Midge Eliassen

Future Work

21

• Expand CoCoRAHS Albedo to other snowy

states in US

• Compare snow density collected with snow

pillow, snow tube and scale, snow tube and

melt methods (UNH Undergrad Ethan Chase)

• Climate and Land Surface Modeling (Wed. Dec

5th, Moscone West 3010, 11:50-12:05

• Snow dance for the 2012/2013 field season!

Acknowledgements

22

• National Science Foundation Experimental

Program to Stimulate Competitive Research

(NSF-EPSCoR #1101-245)

• ASD, Inc. Goetz Instrument Support Program

• CoCoRAHS Volunteers

• David Harrigan, Jake Logemann, Mike Routhier

(website)

• Advising Committee- Dr. Cameron Wake (UNH)

- Dr. Jack Dibb (UNH)

- Dr. Mary Stampone (NH State Climatologist)

- Dr. Scott Ollinger (UNH)

- Dr. Ming Chen (NCAR, Boulder)

• Family and Friends

Website: www.cocorahs-albedo.org

Email: elizabeth.burakowski@gmail.com