Snow ring
Snow rings (also: snow rolls or snow rollers ) are a natural phenomenon . The polar explorer Roald Amundsen described it during his expedition to the South Pole in 1911.
Emergence
Snow rings are created with the help of the wind, as it lifts a slightly higher piece of the snow cover and winds it up. This is how rollers are finally formed that look very similar to women's sleeves in terms of size and shape . Rolls one meter long and meter in diameter have already been found on the Orkney Islands . However, there can also be somewhat unusual shapes that are not exactly circular. However, this phenomenon cannot be compared with the one described above, as this forms when larger parts of a snow cover roll off smoothly (in the form of rollers or cylinders). These roles can then also peel open through a melt.
The snow rings or snow rollers are small, but also up to two meters wide, cylindrical snow rollers with a hole that can be seen in the middle of the roller. They occur frequently in some places, but are also individually in the open. In the Alps they roll down the slopes. The largest recently documented snow rings were 60 cm high and had a hole 16 cm in diameter.
Scientific research
There has been some research into this natural phenomenon over the past decade. Rolling snow occurred in central Illinois in February 2003. When the snow rings appeared in Illinois in March 2007 , new investigations took place, including with avalanche expert Mike Stanford from the Washington State Department of Transport. In January 2008 they performed in Ajax (Canada) and in November of the same year investigations followed in Estonia . The next exploration took place in Burlington in January 2009 . They performed in Idaho in March of that year and were inspected by Tim Tevebaugh . In January 2010 there was the last research in Yeovil and Saxony-Anhalt as well as Thuringia . The snow rings in Saxony-Anhalt had a diameter of up to 30 cm, the hole diameter was up to 8 cm. For the most part, they occurred in clusters, but also individually.
literature
- Hans Häckel: Weather & Climate Phenomena: Ulmers Nature Guide . Eugen Ulmer, 2007.
Web links
- Snow rings in Saxony-Anhalt
- Snow roller photo gallery
- Snow rollers in Central Illinois
- Snow rollers in Yeovil ( Memento from January 11, 2010 on WebCite )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Snow rings a curious natural phenomenon. Retrieved February 20, 2010 .
- ↑ snow . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 17, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1909, pp. 918–919 .
- ↑ Avalanches . In: Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon 1894-1896, Volume 10, p. 1029.
- ↑ Snow rollers. Archived from the original on January 11, 2010 ; Retrieved February 20, 2010 .