Science Friday: Glacial Lake Missoula & Drinking Water?

Glacial Lake Missoula at it's highest level at 4200ft, 

Image from Montana Natural History Center 

Science Friday! Have you ever wondered how Glacial Lake Missoula impacted Missoula’s drinking water? Today we are going to be exploring this question! 

Here’s a little bit of background- about 12,000 years ago, an ice dam holding 2,000 foot deep Glacial Lake Missoula within the valleys of Western Montana, burst. Flood waters moving at 386 million cubic feet per second or 60 times the flow of the Amazon River rushed overland tearing away soils and mountainsides. 

The flood deposited millions of tons of cobble and gravel, which over time, filled the Missoula valley and created the Missoula valley aquifer which now supports more than 40,000 households. 

Every year rainfall and snowmelt flow out of the Clark Fork River and local streams to seep down through glacial deposits and recharge this underground water source. This natural storage tank contains billions of gallons of fresh water, which in some places is only 40 feet below our feet! 

As spring is sneaking up on us, and all of that snow melts, it’s fun to think that as it travels into rivers and gets absorbed by those ancient deposits set as a foundation by the glacial lake floods millions of years ago! Cool! 

Information cited from City of Missoula & Montana Natural History Center’s page glaciallakemissoula.org.

Science Friday: What do birds do in the winter?

By Kat Leister

Happy Science Friday! With the passing of the Spring equinox, the days are getting longer and warmer, and we are hearing more birdsong above our heads! As we soak in the sights and sounds of spring, we wonder, where have the birds been until now? How do animals that weigh 15 grams stay alive in below freezing temperatures?

Shivering: just like people, birds shiver to stay warm! Though, with much higher metabolisms, they are able to do this to keep their body at around 100ºF even when the air around them is 0ºF! 

Food storage: Birds store food throughout the year in what are called caches, places within the dirt or other debris that they can return to when food supply is low! Chickadees in particular have a large hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for spatial memory, and it actually grows in the winter time to help them remember where they’ve stored their food!

Fluffing feathers: in fluffing up their feathers, birds create pockets of air that trap their body heat and keep them better insulated. More winter-tolerant species secrete an oil on their feathers that help weather-proof them!

Roosting/cuddling: just like most animals, birds will cuddle to keep warm by exchanging body heat! They can also lower their otherwise fast metabolism to help conserve energy in times of low food acquisition. 

You can help birds through the winter by providing high energy foods like suet, peanuts, and sunflower seeds! Birds also need fresh water all year around, so a warm, clean birdbath is also helpful! 

As Spring gets swinging, we’re excited to watch the world come alive as the bugs, birds, and other animals become more active! 

Thanks for tuning into this week’s Science Friday! See you again next week! 

Information and pictures gathered from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service