❄️What is a Stellar Dendrite?❄️
Snow science is something that is new to me. As someone who has lived in hot climates most of my life, I cant say I've spent enough time around snow to perform scientific studies on it.
This week however, I actually got to explore snow and learned quite a lot! We spent the day on top of Brundage Mountain digging snow pits to determine the structure, strength, and history of this year's snowpack (something I'll detail later) but we also were able to examine snow through a scope. It was there I really examined stellar dendrites for the first time!
Stellar Dendrites are what we typically picture when we think of snowflakes. They are hexagonal growths of ice crystals on tiny bits of dust, pollen, and other airborne material. These materials have water vapor deposited on them as the air cools and they grow into the fascinating structures we call snowflakes. What's even cooler is that the humidity and temperature can affect and change the formation shape of these snowflakes.
This is just the first stage of the incredible metamorphosis that snow undergoes each time it falls. Would you like to learn more about snow and how it forms and transforms throughout its life cycle? Find my other work here!
https://linktr.ee/interpretanything
