A new way to heat snow - and better predict flooding

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

For all of Maine's rustic nature, most parts are never too far away from an outlet to plug your computer into.

The solar panels and wind turbine(USGS)

But if you’ve been in the vast North Woods – especially near the Allagash and St. John rivers - you know that wildness rules. While campers and hikers love it, the lack of electricity has presented a problem for the U.S. Geological Survey to measure snowfall that helps predicts the risk of floods from spring snowmelt. That’s because you need electricity to heat the five-gallon buckets snow falls into to understand how much water is in the white stuff.

Scientists tried to use batteries and solar panels to heat the buckets, but it proved to be a losing proposition: Batteries would normally only last one storm and the solar panels, obviously, weren't useful when a storm was ongoing.

Now, however, Maine USGS scientists have come up with a smart solution: A bucket heater powered by a small scale wind turbine and solar panels. The turbine powers the measurements on windy and cloudy days and solar panels power them on calm sunny days. Plus, the system will pay for themselves in about three to four years.

The hope is the system could be used elsewhere in the country where more power is needed than solar alone for remote measurements. This summer USGS officials hop e to construct three others in the North Woods.

“It’s a very small step in a very long journey of helping this country become greener,’’ said Bob Lent, chief of the USGS Maine Water Science Center in Augusta.