Locations are typically reached by ski or helicopters. Operators prepare the drilling site and the thermal containers for storing samples. The extraction process takes about two or three hours; samples are then packed properly to prevent melting during transport to the cold room in Milan.
Snow samples are collected by digging a trench and stored in vials. At the same time, another operator digs a snowpit to take a survey of the properties of the snow and use the YETI software to create a stratigraphic profile according to the AINEVA (Italian Association of Snow and Avalanches) and IACS (International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground) guidelines.
For some years the research group has also been in the Arctic, more precisely on the Spitsbergen peninsula in the Svalbard Islands. Here, as guests of the Italian base “Dirigibile Italia” of the Institute of Polar Sciences of the CNR, our researchers have been able to reach many glaciers to perform stratigraphy of the snowpack and snow sampling.
