Author Archives: Mandy Kong

Project leader Harald Sodemann presenting ISOSCAN to guides from Wondering Owl

Within ISOSCAN, we aim to engage citizens and stakeholders to help collect snow samples over distances and durations we as scientists could never accomplish. During the tourism high season in winter, many tour operators in Tromsø run daily trips where they take groups for snowshoe hikes or to see Northern lights. Since they are on the road anyways, why not ask them to take a snow sample for ISOSCAN? And maybe even starting conversations about snow, weather, and climate science?

Being a tour guide is a tough job. You have responsibility for your group, many things to take care of, and long working days. If we ask a guide for sampling on top of that, the method must be reliable and simple. Importantly, the guides need to see that the sample is used, and what it’s being used for.

In November 2024 I went to Tromsø to make the case for ISOSCAN with the guides from Wandering Owl. Tour operator Wandering Owl had already been experimenting last season with citizen science snow sampling for us. My plan was now to showcase the ISOSCAN approach to the new guides for this year’s snow season and to encourage their further involvement.

It was amazing to witness how the room filled with energy as the guides arrived: about 30 people with diverse backgrounds, some experienced, some new to Tromsø, settled onto their chairs as the sound of many languages swirled in the air. Then I laid out what ISOSCAN involves and how snow sampling is useful. Finally, I talked about current weather forecasting, and why it’s hard to forecast clouds and snow – which is key when you want to take people snowshoeing or to see the Northern lights.

Participants showing interest and curiosity during the Q&A section

During the Q&A, an amazing show of interest and curiosity broke loose, friendly but direct. It became clear that yes, these stakeholders were engaged. And importantly, we agreed that Wondering Owl would do some ISOSCAN snow sampling with some of their tours. We’re excited to see the results from their sampling as the 2025 winter season ends!

Text: Harald Sodemann / UiB
Photos: Martina Stęposz / Wandering Owl

photo: private

We are very happy to welcome the new PostDoc Costijn Zwart to the ISOSCAN project. With an interest in meteorology, snow science, water isotopes, and fieldwork experience, and a highly relevant set of scientific publications, Costijn brings along a perfect mix of expertise for ISOSCAN. We’re looking very much forward to having Costijn with us in the project after the summer at the Geophysical Institute at University of Bergen.  

Costijn himself says: “First of all I am excited to become part of the team and look forward to meeting all the participants! My background is in operational meteorology and snow science. For the past 10+ years, I have worked in the geochemistry lab at James Cook University and in remote north Australia. In my PhD research I used stable isotopes to reconstruct and interpret environmental change and worked on stable isotopic signatures of extreme weather events such as Tropical Cyclones.” 

What is Water4All actually about? What other research is going on in the framework of this call and the entire funding scheme? To answer these questions, the Water4All secretariat organised a 2-day kickoff meeting at the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation in Madrid, where our project had to be represented. Principal investigator Harald Sodemann was at this meeting for ISOSCAN. In addition to presentations of each individual of the 27 projects funded within this Water4All call, the European Commission was represented by two speakers that explained the framework for how the EU plans to adapt to a changing water cycle with climate change. The ISOSCAN presentation stimulated a quite lively discussion, including many questions about the citizen science approach. In addition to all other project representatives, several funding agencies were represented as well, and it was indeed useful to participate in this networking event, for example to connect with the Norwegian and Swedish-led projects ECCO and MEWS. The mid-term event may be organised in a hybrid format such that we could reduce our travel activity.