August 17th, 2026

Undergraduate researchers present their summer work

Last week, three undergraduate researchers from the Mountain Ice & Water Lab presented their work at the University of Lethbridge Undergraduate Research Symposium. The symposium was a great chance to share the range of field-based mountain research that has been underway in the lab this summer — from glacier melt, to alpine weather monitoring, to understanding how snowmelt moves through mountain landscapes.

Bridget Lowe presented Measuring the Effects of Fine-Scale Variability on the Ablation of Peyto Glacier in the Canadian Rockies. Her project examines how differences in glacier surface albedo influence melt at Peyto Glacier. Over the summer, Bridget developed a GIS-based sampling strategy for approximately 100 field measurements across different glacier surfaces and built and tested a portable pyranometer system that will be used during our upcoming Peyto Glacier field campaign.

Amanda Hanke presented Monitoring Weather at Haig Lake. Amanda helped design, assemble, test, program, and deploy a meteorological station at Haig Lake in the Castle Watershed. The station is now collecting measurements of air and ground temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind and other meteorological variables, expanding our ability to observe environmental conditions in this high-elevation watershed.

Dominic Dunn presented From Snow to Streams: Deploying a Mountain Hydrology Monitoring Network. His work focuses on building a network of monitoring sites across the West Castle watershed to understand how snowmelt infiltrates into mountain soils, moves through the subsurface, and ultimately contributes to headwater streams. The network spans environments from the alpine ridge to the valley bottom and combines soil moisture, infiltration, temperature and groundwater observations.

It was particularly exciting to see the students presenting not only research results, but also the less visible work that makes mountain field science possible: instrument testing, coding, GIS analysis, equipment design, field deployment and a lot of logistical preparation.
​
Congratulations to Bridget, Amanda and Dominic on a fantastic summer of research and on sharing their work so confidently with the University community!