Mt. Abram High School student Nola Dixon takes a snowpack sample as part of a statewide cooperative snowpack survey . (David Hart photo) SALEM - - Mt. Abram High School students and Poland Spring Water Bottling Company have teamed up again for some hands-on learning in the arena of useful scientific data collection. Mt. Abram students, under the guidance of Poland Spring's Mark LaPlante, are participating in the United States Geological Survey and the Maine Geological Survey Maine Cooperative Snowpack Survey.

The purpose for the agencies is to gather data from over 100 locations across the state to determine the potential of spring flooding.

Now in the month of March, students go out each Tuesday to measure snow depth and the water content within the snow. The data they collect gets sent in to the state as part of a statewide cooperative. Hydrogeologists then convert the data into flood warning maps based on the major river basins and publish that information on a Web site.

Poland Spring's Tom Brennan participates in regular Water Resources Planning Committee meetings headed by the Maine Geological Survey.

At these meetings, Brennan offered data that they collect in the water monitoring process from their spring water sites to collaborate as part of the statewide effort.

"Snowpack monitoring helps in the prediction of flooding as well as a tool to monitor recharge to aquifers," LaPlante said.

"When you're outside it makes me want to learn more," said junior Katie Bushman who compared it to classroom learning.

Bushman was joined by classmates, Nola Dixon, Andrew Cummings, Martin Clariage and Aaron McGinness who are now all part of the survey.

In the woods they took 10 samples using a snow tube for snow depth and eventually for water content analysis. A weighing device is then used to measure how many inches of rain the pack would represent if it all melted.

Heavy rain mixed with warm temperatures can trigger a flood watch potential here in Maine. Measuring the snowpack water storage capacity and water content is instrumental in predicting spring floods.

Last Tuesday the students found there was an average of 32.8 inches of snow on the forest floor. They also determined that this would represent 8.66 inches of rain if it all melted.

"This winter's snowpack, ice conditions, stream flows and headwaters storage have combined to create flood potential that is near normal for the time of year," according to Maine's River Flow Advisory Commission.

Based on what's to come in terms of snow, rain and rapid warm temperatures in future weeks, the flooding potential may elevate. "The snowpack, though substantial, is not alarming for the time of year," said Bob Lent, District Chief, U.S. Geological Survey and co-chairman of the Commission. "However, we are not likely to lose any snow over the next few weeks, and may gain some. That will likely mean an elevated flood potential later in the spring."

MTA along with Poland High School are the only high schools in the state who participate in this survey designed to warn people of flooding before it happens.

Both are community schools near Poland Spring operations.

"We're always looking for ways to interact with the students and bring science into the schools," LaPlante explained. "We started thinking about the survey early fall last year and started to interact with the school. The school is always looking for hands-on activities and they were very receptive."

LaPlante said the students are getting a full understanding of what the NGS and USGS does for science in Maine. Bringing this type of science to the students may help them decide that they want to pursue a career in these fields.

LaPlante said that Jim Caldwell (USGS) and Bob Johnson (MGS) have both participated in the program to teach students. "I definitely think that more high schools should consider this as a potential teaching exercise for students to learn more about the world around them," LaPlante said.

"This is our first year of involving students," Caldwell explained. "It has worked out very well thus far. The information has come in on time and the values have agreed with other measurements in their area. We try to have the data compiled by Tuesday evenings and get the maps posted to the internet by Wednesday mornings. We haven't had any trouble receiving the data and have not had any outliers with their data," Caldwell said.

"I'm really proud of the relationships we have made with the schools in the communities that we are involved in and also the company's commitment to be 'good neighbors' in the communities that we work in," LaPlante explained. "It has been a wonderful experience so far and hopefully we will be able to continue to grow these programs to get students more involved in their surroundings and also for them to have a better understanding of their surroundings."

Caldwell said the relationship with students creates a true "win-win" situation. The teachers and students get a chance to be involved with hands-on data collection and can use the statewide data from the Web site in school projects. "For us, receiving data from many parts of the state gives a clearer picture of what the snowpack depth and water content is throughout the state. The database and the program are in place. More data is no trouble, it is better."

The cost of equipment, which can range from $800 to $1,400 (depending on model and scale type) is the only prohibitive aspect of more school involvement.

"As you know this is the: 'Statewide Cooperative Snow Survey.' It is a cooperative effort between international, Federal and State agencies and private companies —and now, schools," Caldwell said.

"The equivalent water content in the snowpack is used by the State's River Flow Advisory Committee and are used by a number of agencies for forecasting flood potential, estimating inflow to storage reservoirs, and planning long-term flow management. The observed extremes in Maine's snowpack during more than 90 years, at many locations, is also of interest to engineering design professionals, biologists and others."

The data, which includes Mt. Abram High School as contributors, can be found on the River Flow Advisory Commission's Web site located at Maine.gov.

"It's just a really great opportunity," MTA junior Nola Dixon explained from within the woods. "We are so lucky that we are able to do this with Poland Spring."