Snowmobile rides, deep sea dives, forest hikes.

NASA experts travel to some amazing places to learn more about our planet.

In this bonus episode,

join Jessica Mearsdorf, science writer, on her journey to Grand Mesa, Colorado. When you step off the snowmobile and you're looking around you are in a flat, vast expanse of white.

Small clumps of trees here and there, but your first vast expanse of white.

Small clumps of trees here and there, but your first sensation is of this giant tabletop of perfect, pure white snow.

My name is Jessica Meursdorf.

I am an earth science writer, and I just spent three days out in the field.

A field campaign is when scientists are measuring something in the Earth environment typically,

where they have to physically go and be there and take those measurements themselves.

A field campaign can take place on an island or by the ocean or in the snow or on a mountain. NASA scientists go all over the world and to all sorts of different environments from the

very hot to the very cold.

I went to Grand Mesa, Colorado with the Snowex 2020 team. Snowex is a project that is

researching snow properties, so depth and density, particle size, that sort of thing, using a

variety of different instruments on the ground and from the air. NASA is interested in snow for a couple different reasons.

It's really important to the Earth's ecosystem.

It regulates temperature and climate

because it reflects sunlight back out of the atmosphere.

And it's also important from a water perspective.

If you live in an area where you get a lot of snow,

you may rely on snow for your drinking water during the spring and summer and fall.

When solar energy comes in, the snow reflects some of it back out.

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