Snow roller

Snow rings (also: snow rolls or snow rollers ) are a natural phenomenon. Even the polar explorer Roald Amundsen described it during his expedition to the South Pole in 1911.

Formation

Snow rings are formed with the participation of the wind by this versus a slightly higher standing piece of the snow and winds. Thus, eventually forming rolls which look very similar to the size and shape of women's sleeves. In the Orkney Islands were already rolling with a meter in length and ¾ feet in diameter have been found. But it can also come to something quite unusual shapes that are not exactly circular. This phenomenon, however, is not to be compared with the previous described, since this makes the peaceful rolling of larger parts of a snow cover ( in the form of rolls or rollers ). Through a melt these roles can then also delaminate.

The snow rings or snow rolls are small, but also up to two meters wide roll-shaped snow rollers with a hole, which can be seen in the middle of the roll. They occur in many places on frequently, but are also individually in the open field. In the Alps, they roll down on the slopes. The largest snow rings latter day documented had a height of 60 cm and a hole of 16 cm diameter.

Scientific investigation

In the last decade there has been some exploration of this natural phenomenon. Snow rollers occurred in Central Illinois in February 2003. When the snow rings occurred in Illinois in March 2007, re- examinations were held, among others, the avalanche expert Mike Stanford from " Washington State Department of Transportation ." In January 2008, she appeared in Ajax and in November of the same year was followed by studies in Estonia. The next exploration was held in Burlington in January 2009. In March of the same year she appeared in Idaho and have been inspected by Tim Tevebaugh. In January 2010, there were until then the last exploration in Yeovil and Saxony -Anhalt and Thuringia. The snow rings in Saxony -Anhalt had a diameter up to 30 cm, the hole diameter was up to 8 cm. They came for the most part clustered, but also individually.