Persistent Snow in a Taconic Mountains ‘Ice Cave’

Despite being an integral part of history for the Taconic Mountain region in Upstate New York, the famous snow inundated “ice cave”, the Snow Hole, remains much of a mystery. In this study, the goal is to determine whether current conditions found at the site can support relict permafrost, and if the geology of the Snow Hole has any impact on the cool temperatures found in the “cave” year-round. The max and min temperature from the inside and just above the field site were recorded throughout 2018 to 2023 using HOBOLink sensors. Surface temperature at the field site was compared to archived temperature data from four locations 20-55 km from the field site to calibrate a multiple linear regression model. This model allows reconstruction of the maximum and minimum temperature record at the snow hole going back to 1890 (r = .895^a , p = <.001^b for maximum; r = .940^a, p= <.001^b for minimum). Future work will include XRF mineralogical analysis to determine mineral composition and calculate estimated thermal conductivity in the region. This can then be compared to regional paleotemperature reconstructions to determine if the site is conducive to maintaining relict permafrost from the most recent glacial maximum.