Undergraduate Research Fellowship Spotlight: Wil Chapple

Each semester, Wyoming EPSCoR selects and funds 20 or more Undergraduate Research Fellowships. These fellowships are excellent opportunities for students to gain quality experience in research, to prepare for graduate programs, and obtain practical knowledge. Throughout the next few weeks, our blog will be highlighting various students participating in the EPSCoR Undergraduate Research Fellowships program.

Wil Chapple

Wil Chapple, a senior in the Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management department is studying water and isotopes.

“I’m tracing water through the ecosystem in the Snowy Range,” says Wil. “And also, how the glacial history that helped shape the Snowies has affected the soils that similar ecosystems rely on.”

To trace the water, Wil is using various research methods to collect data.

“I’ve been collecting soil samples and taking isotope measures of the water in the Snowies,” says Wil. “I’m looking to see if there are similar isotopic signatures in certain depths of the soil.”

Wil has been working in the Stable Isotope Facility for three semesters. His faculty mentor is Dr. David Williams, a professor in the Departments of Botany and Ecosystem Science and Management and Team Lead in WyCEHG.

“I’m lucky to get a lot of support and help from Dave and fellow grad students,” says Wil. “I’m really thankful for that!”

Through his fellowship, Wil has gained many valuable experiences, but a few things stand out above the rest.

“I’ve gotten a glimpse into what graduate school would be like,” says Wil. “I’ve also learned what it takes to do good science. I’ve learned a lot of patience.”

By: Robin E. Rasmussen

Photo courtesy of Wil Chapple

SRAP Student Spotlight: Griffin and Mapping Regional Isotopes

SRAPer: Griffin Gilmore
Home State: California
Grade in School: Senior
Plans after high school: Attend Air force Academy, if possible, and major in either astrophysics or astronomy

 

Griffin takes down field notes

Energy and curiosity are key ingredients when it comes to being a scientist and Griffin Gilmore has plenty of both. While the planning stages of a project often lack the excitement of the implementation stage, Griffin is enthusiastic about all aspect of his project, planning included. He knows exactly what he wants to accomplish and how to reach that goal.

“My SRAP project is about taking samples of isotopes from the Laramie River and Crow Creek watershed,” Griffin explains. “Then, from those samples, we can make an isoscape, which is a map of the isotopes within a region so that we better understand how water flows throughout the area.”

This project is part of the larger WyCEHG project, focused on understanding Wyoming water systems. Griffin’s work will contribute to the knowledge WyCEHG is working towards and plays an important role in understanding the relationship between ground water, sub-surface water and precipitation.

Griffin is working with Dr. Scott Miller, a spatial processes hydrologist at the University of Wyoming and co-principal investigator for WyCEHG. Dr. Miller is enthusiastic about the project, because it is centered on a new way of approaching water science.

“Griffin is working on an emerging kind of water science at UW,” says Dr. Miller. “His research is the first attempt at using isotopes to understand how water changes downriver in these systems. Griffin has come up with a very clever project and his research will be beneficial to the WyCEHG project. It’s terrific to have a high school student contribute to fundamental science.”

While Griffin is still getting everything ready and preparing for several days of field work, he is most looking forward to the analysis process in the Stable Isotope Lab.

Griffin takes a measurement at one WyCEHG site

“I’m really going to enjoy the in-lab work,” Griffin says. “I like anything about chemistry, isotopes included.”

In addition to chemistry, Griffin likes physics and astronomy.

“Ever since a young age I’ve been fascinated with astronomy and there’s a lot of physics within astronomy,” Griffin says.

Griffin’s love of astronomy and physics is what makes the Air force Academy appealing with its strong astrophysics program. No matter where he decides to go for college, however, Griffin is ready for starting a career in science.

“I think SRAP is a great opportunity,” Griffin says. “It’s great for college and great for getting experience in the science fields.”

 
SRAP is a six-week intensive research program based at the University of Wyoming and sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR.
By  Kali S. McCrackin
Photos by Robin E. Rasmussen and Kali S. McCrackin
 

Field Day: Snow sampling and the coming of spring

Don’t sink. Don’t sink. Don’t…sunk.

We’re floundering around in waist deep snow, our snowshoes buried and our packs throwing us off balance. The snow mixing bucket and data clipboard in our hands add to the struggle of regaining our footing, but we could not be more thrilled. The sky is blue, the sun is warm and spring is on its way. The snow melting and soaking into our boots and clothes makes that clear. One more week, and our outing would have been almost pointless. Collecting snow samples with no snow would be impossible.

We scramble to our feet, the wet snow helping us to slide down the slight slope to the road. We could not have asked for a more perfect day.

Wil Chapple mixes a snow sample.

This field day is part of a WyCEHG project focused on the isotope signatures of snow to help determine where snow melt is actually going. Does the runoff end up in streams and watersheds, like Libby Creek, where we are today, or is it stored in the ground and later used by trees? This is one of the questions Dr. Dave Williams and EPSCoR Undergraduate Fellow Wil Chapple are trying to answer. To do so, snow samples at specific sites, picked because of their soil structure, must be methodically collected. Today, our team of four heads to the Snowy Range Mountains, west of Laramie, to measure and collect the snow Wil needs to continue work on his project and which will be used to inform other aspects of WyCEHG’s work.

Water runs in little rivers down Barber Lake Road where we pull off. The snow banks that usually cover the road until May are melting in a hurry. Our collection sites are half a mile and a mile up the road. Elizabeth Traver (ET), manager of the Surface and Subsurface HydrologyLab (SSHL), and Wil accompany Dr. Williams and me to the first site, to show us how to correctly measure the snow and collect the samples. We are using GPS units and snow core samplers to pinpoint our locations and determine the snow water equivalents (the depth of liquid water of the snow at a spot). The snow core sampler is comprised of a scale with a hook and a long metal tube with centimeters marked on the side and a sharp, slightly pointed end for digging into the ground.  In addition, we have a clipboard with data sheets, plastic sampling bottles, a 100 meter measuring tape, a stake, a bucket and a trowel.

The snow core sampler.

We start by poking the stake firmly into the snow, attaching the measuring tape and walking it 50 meters across the top of the slope we have decided to work on. This terrain was created from rock and sediment deposited during the Bull Lake Glaciation period, approximately 140,000 years ago. Because of its age, this site has a different soil structure, texture and chemistry than that on nearby hills which were created during the much more recent Pinedale glacial event. Our goal at this site is to stay within this soil type during our measurements, because Dr. Williams and Wil believe that soil type affects water movement in this basin. In order to understand this dynamic, all of our measurements must be within the same soil.

After Dr. Williams walks the tape measure out 50 meters, we measure the weight of the long metal tube: 0.71 kg. ET then pushes the tube down vertically in the snow until it hits the ground below. We take note of the snow depth: 42 centimeters. With gloved hands, so as not to warm the tube, ET pushes down on it. This digs the sharp metal end of the tube into the ground. When she pulls the tube out, there is no dirt in the bottom. This means we didn’t hit the ground enough, so our measurements are not accurate. We have to try it again.

This time the snow depth is 46 centimeters and when ET pulls the tube out, deep brown dirt is clumped into the bottom. Perfect!  We can take our next measurement, which is the compressed depth snow: 22 centimeters. Carefully, ET digs the dirt out of the bottom of the tube, trying not to scrape her fingers too much on the sharp edges. Once all the dirt is out, we measure the weight again: 0.81 kg. This final weight will allows us to calculate the snow water equivalent and snow density. Every ten meters we will take these same measurements. At 0, 50, 100, and 150 meters we will collect a snow sample for isotope analysis.

To do so, we dump the snow in the tube into our mixing bucket and Wil stirs it around with the trowel. The snow we collect in the tubes is from different storms, all with slightly different isotope signatures. If we just scoop snow off the top of the bank, we only get a signature for that layer of snow. So, to get a bulk isotope signature for that exact spot, the layers must be mixed together. Once mixed, we stuff it into a properly labeled plastic bottle.

With the method down, Dr. Williams and I head 10 meters down the line while ET and Wil slide their way back to the road to go further up into the mountains to visit two other sites, one in Pinedale glaciation terrain and one in pre-Pinedale glaciation terrain.

A measurement site where one snow sample was taken

By the end of the first 50 meters, we have a system down. Dr. Williams take the measurements, I record the data, and we sink through the snow to our next spot. At meter 50, we collect another sample, and then it’s time to take measurements down slope. This time, Dr. Williams measures 100 meters down, making as straight of a line as possible. The aim is for our measurements to be taken in an L shape, with 50 meters across the slope and 100 meters down the slope.

As we slip and slide down, our measurements become more varied. Whereas the snow depth across the slope was similar at each measurement point, down slope the snow depth ranged from almost 70 centimeters to just 12. This snow was wet and in many places it had already collapsed significantly before we took the measurements. Dr. Scott Miller, Co-Principle Investigator for WyCEHG, told us this would be the case. There is more heterogeneity down than across a hill.

At 100 meters down (and 150 meters total), we are almost out of snow. Large patches of soil, covered with pine needles expose the impact of the warm weather over the last few weeks. For some Laramie-ites, tired of the winter, this may be a welcome sign of summer to come, but for watershed and water resource managers this is an alarm bell going off. The snowpack, according to the Water Resource Data System at UW, is at only 82% for the entire state. With warm weather moving in already, this could be an ominous sign for the coming summer. It is hard to tell if the snow melt from this winter will be enough to keep wildfires at bay and water flowing down the streams. This is why WyCEHG’s work is important. Without a complete understanding of the water system, making accurate estimates about seasonal conditions, water availability and water in general is difficult. With WyCEHG’s data and research, water resource managers can be armed with the tools they need for more accurate predictions about the seasons to come.

One site down, one site to go. Dr. Williams and I head up the road to take measurements from a site formed during the Pinedale glaciation event.

By Kali S. McCrackin
Photos by Kali S. McCrackin