New NSF special report: Let It Snow! The Science of Winter

[knocker]

An interesting report and links

Snow -- that icon of winter -- blankets the land with a beautiful silence. Love it or hate it, we all depend on snow. Our year-round water supply largely comes from snowmelt.

But we're not the only ones who need snow.

Species from microscopic fungi to 800-pound-moose require it as much, if not more. They survive the winter by living in nature's igloo: snow.

And spring's profusion of flowers? They're fertilized by nutrients in snow.

If you're planning to skate on a frozen lake or river this winter, ski on a snowy slope, or, when spring arrives, depend on snowmelt to fill your reservoir, you may need to think twice.

A view of the new winter

Winter is changing, becoming less like the cold seasons we may remember. The "new winter" has consequences far beyond December-to-March. It affects spring and summer, too, including plants' flowering dates -- and species such as hummingbirds that depend on precision flowering times for nectar.

In celebration of snow and winter as we know it, and in a look at what winter may be like in the future, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has launched a new special report: Let It Snow! The Science of Winter.

The report focuses on projects supported largely by NSF's Directorate for Geosciences and Directorate for Biological Sciences/Division of Environmental Biology.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/nsf-nns011416.php