MTU researcher grooms Antarctic snow roads

For one Michigan Tech researcher, there wasn't quite enough snow in the Upper Peninsula to suit him.

Instead, Russ Alger headed to McMurdo Station in Antarctica this winter to find the perfect place to test his snow-road groomer. Alger is the director of MTU's Institute for Snow Research--yes, we even research the snow in the U.P.--and had a new creation to try out.

Alger has been working for twenty years on a groomer that can turn feet of deep, soft snow into a packed, pavement-like surface, to be used to create snow roads for easier travel in Antarctica.

Even in summer, there are feet of snow there, but the warmer temperatures make it soft, and much more difficult to land the planes that bring scientists and supplies to McMurdo Station, let alone driving heavy equipment on the snow.

"It's difficult to compress this soft snow into a snow pavement because there's so much more soft snow beneath it," Alger says. "That's the trick I'm trying to do with my groomer."

It mills the snow to pack it down into smaller crystals, then compacts it to get the air out, somewhat like paving a regular road. The hard surface that forms is as deep as six inches, thick enough to stand up to pretty heavy use.

"I talked the fleet supervisor into driving her truck out onto it," Alger says. "She was super surprised at the results. Not only didn't her truck fall through, it didn't even make tracks. It worked!"

He then tested it with a 35,500-pound tractor, which the snow road also held. Now his groomer is being used at McMurdo Station, producing good test results, and awaiting Alger's next visit, when he plans to add a better power supply to the groomer.

The ultimate goal is to be able to use the groomer or a larger cousin to create snow runways for landing strips closer to the station than can be used currently.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Russ Alger, Michigan Technological University