Team will offer tips for navigating winter ice safely
February 5, 2014
The presentation will be from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Murie Building auditorium on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.
Knut Kielland, Bill Schneider, Chas Jones, Karen Brewster and Sam Demientieff are expected to attend. They're members of a team that produced a booklet, “On Dangerous Ice — Changing Ice Conditions on the Tanana River,” in 2013 with funding from the National Science Foundation.
At spots in the Tanana River, enough ground water wells up in winter to thin or melt the ice. In other places, erosion can undermine large sections of the bank, which then can break off, even during a 30-below January day. The chunks of bank soil can smash through two feet of river ice.
In Wednesday's talk, the team will show and explain these conditions, describe some of the causes and provide tips for avoiding and getting out of danger.
People interested in hearing the talk via WebEx should send an email to kebennett@alaska.edu and ask for the log-in information.