Snow

Contact person: Désirée Treichler. Email: desiree.treichler@geo.uio.no

Jeg (og de fleste i forskningsgruppa) snakker både norsk og engelsk.

Our research group is part of several snow projects, and will be participating in the ERC Synergy project SnowShifts on snow from autumn 2026.

Read more about ongoing snow projects in our section:

Brief description of the research group

We are a group of scientists who work on different snow and snow-related projects, ranging from microstructure to global coverage. We carry out field measurements, analyse satellite observations, run model simulations, and produce snow in a lab, the cold climate container. We study different environments and physical processes, especially the Arctic tundra, mountains, water resources, and permafrost. We are particularly focused on how snow (eco)systems were, are, or will be, affected by climate change.

To get an idea of one aspect of our research, we invite you to check out the recent GEOonsdag presentation about measuring snow from space ("å måle snø fra verdensrommet", in Norwegian): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1n9kcannzs&list=PL6zSfYNSRHamPZoLfeSc8ojYHa-oBzqWx&index=5&pp=iAQB

Some random examples of snow data/images that we are working with: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10NQtG9JcyuO88OtPO9PlqEVFip5PaSL60lVCDPeFY9s/edit?usp=sharing

Motivation for collaborating with an artist

Snow is a very accessible material and concept and has great artistic potential as it touches all senses. Snow is also a unique medium because it is temporary and temperature-dependent. There are many processes on Earth that involve snow, and it has many different roles: It is important both for the Earth and its climate, but also for many people personally and for Norway as a part of the national identity. This raises interesting questions: How will this world look and be like in the future - with less snow, or more extremes? Other fascinating aspects are how snow can be good or bad depending on the situation, and how different it looks like depending on what sensor and scale one uses. Snow affects our planet at very different scales: from how microstructure and layering determine local conditions for the ecosystem, permafrost or avalanche danger, to the global systemic effect the annual northern hemisphere snow layer has.

I am curious about your thoughts about the many aspects of snow.

Examples of activities that the artist can participate in

The goal is for the artist to develop their own ideas through gaining insight into the work and research goals of the group. The artist can be a part of the daily work life in our section and will be invited to join field and lab work, and our regular meetings and seminars. The artist will have access to attractive imagery and data across the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum, from close to far range using drones and satellites. Examples are optical, multispectral, lidar, radar and thermal data. Our fieldwork activities are mainly in alpine areas in mainland Norway as well as Svalbard. We do field work with drones, time lapse photography, and operate several meteorological towers across Norway, as well as perform manual measurements of snow properties. In addition, the artist will be able to join the recently established cold climate container on the UiO campus where we are producing and studying nature-like snow.

Work space / time period

The guest artist can get an office space. We can facilitate access to the dronelab equipment and cold climate container, and to the (snow) research station in Finse (for field studies).

No time period in particular, we are flexible. The next SnowBridges gathering of Norwegian snow scientists is tentatively planned for October, and snow field work tends to happen in February-May. The schedule for cold climate container activities is not yet available, but it can in principle be operated year-round.

Publisert 13. feb. 2026 14:14 - Sist endret 13. feb. 2026 14:14