Popular Science Monthly 



229 



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•Tbe Eadel secw sam|i)a: 



Above is the Kadel snow sampler which is an 

 auger and measuring stick combined. The 

 diameter of the tube is such that one pound 

 of snow represents one inch of water 



At left: The Marvin sampler. One end of 

 the tube has a toothed cutting edge so that 

 it can be forced through icy incrustations 

 in the snow beds. It is graduated in inches 



Scientists on Snowshoes 

 The snow surveyors travel rapidly over 

 the watershed, often on skiis or snowshoes, 

 carrying with them a "snow sampler" and a 

 small spring balance. The sampler is a 

 metal tube, of small bore, which is forced 

 down to the bottom of the snow in order to 

 secure a sample. The Marvin sampler, 

 used by the Weather Bureau, is two and 

 three-fourths inches in diameter and comes 

 in various lengths. One end is armed with 

 a serrated cutting edge, so that it can be 

 forced through icy incrustations, or ice 

 itself in the snow beds. The tube is gradu- 

 ated in inches. When the tube is with- 

 drawn the section of snow remains in it, 

 and the whole is weighed by means of the 

 balance. Several hundreds of measure- 

 ments are made on different parts of the 

 watershed. An alternative plan, suitable 

 for shallow beds of snow, is to shovel the 

 snow into a bucket and weigh the latter 

 with its contents. These methods depend 

 upon the fact that a given weight of snow 

 represents a definite amount of water, 

 whereas the relation between depth of snow 

 and water content is widely variable. 



Mr. B. C. Kadel, of the Weather Bureau, 

 has recently devised a snow sampler having 

 a bore of nearly six inches, which is much 

 larger than in the Mar\in instrument; it is 

 provided with an auger, which, when 

 screwed to the base of the tube, constitutes 

 a bottom for retaining the snow. The 

 diameter of the tube is such that one pound 

 of snow represents one inch of water. 

 This ingenious instrument unfortunately 

 labors under the disadvantage of being too 

 heavy to be readily portable over the 

 mountains and in districts where the trans- 

 portation facilities are likely to be cut off 

 entirely during the very time when the 

 snow sampler is needed. There are places 

 in the mountains where more than five 

 hundred inches of snow falls during an 

 average season, and where the exceptional 

 depth is nearly eight hundred inches or 

 more than sixty-five feet. This is in the 

 Sierra Nevada, of California, in the region 

 adjacent to the line of the Southern Pacific 

 Railway connecting Sacramento, Cal., with 

 Reno, Nev, The railway company is kept 

 busy shoveling the accumulations off its 

 thirty- two miles of snow-sheds. 



