Discovering the natural world: DEAPS 2023 in pictures

34 people pose for a photo at the top of a foggy mountain around a wooden sign that reads

The annual Discover Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (DEAPS) pre-orientation program gives incoming first-year students the opportunity to explore the earth sciences both in the classroom and out in the field.

Phoebe Lin, Titus Tsai and Bill McKenna | EAPS NewsNovember 01, 2023
Categories: Community, Students + Postdocs

The annual Discover Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (DEAPS) pre-orientation program gives incoming first-year students the opportunity to explore the different subjects taught in the department before classes begin. This year followed the formula of previous years, with activities and discussions in the classroom and lab, followed by opportunities to experience all aspects of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences in the real world. In addition to spending time in the Green Building on campus, participants took trips out to the Mount Washington Observatory, MIT’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory, and Diana’s Baths in New Hampshire.

Day one – meteorological observations

A group of students gather outside on a grassy lawn. In the background is the MIT Green building.

Measuring wind speed and pressure to deduce the height of the Green Building, home to the EAPS department, which is also pictured in the background.

A group of people stand on a bridge, looking in the same direction. Two people in the foreground are pointing at something off caxmera while a third looks on.

It was a beautiful day to be taking meteorological observations outside! We saw some fleeting cumulus clouds, but otherwise the sky remained clear.

Day two – Wallace Observatory

A group of students sit in a small classroom, watching as Grace O'Neil presents a slide labeled "Impact of moist processes on the thermal stratification of the midlatitude atmospshere"

Starting off a talk with a pretty slide.

A group of students gathered around a table with a rotating tank filled with a clear fluid that has blue, red and green dyes mixed in it. One person in the group is talking.
A screen showing a rotating tank filled with a clear fluid mixing blue, green and red dyes.

Tank experiments in the fluids lab. We can create these amazing dye patterns similar to what we see with hurricanes just by adding dye to a rotating tank!

A group of five students in a wooden shed with red lighting. A telescope is in the foreground.

Next up is MIT’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory. There, EAPS undergrad Kaylee tells students about the telescopes in the Wallace shed and how they use them for observational astronomy.

A group photo of 19 people inside the MIT Wallace Observatory in regular lighting.
A group photo of 19 people inside the MIT Wallace Observatory in red light.

Group photo at the Observatory in standard and red light. It has red lights to allow us to see in low-light conditions, which help us observe more stars at night.

Day three – Classroom learning

Professor Wanying Kang inspires students with a talk on her work in icy satellites.

It’s important for the students to know about Navier-Stokes!

This Alolan Vulpix and this bunny plushie decided to hitch a ride on the giant rotating tank where we do more tank experiments.

The iGlobe demonstration led by Professor Glenn Flierl provides a look of continental drift over the Earth’s history from all angles.

Day four – Mt. Washington

Ten people stand on top of a rocky outcropping some distance from the camera.
Three people stand together in a group looking at a large rock in one person's hand. They are on top of a mountain on a cloudy day.

Making our ascent to Mt. Washington! Along the way, there’s a convergence of the rock TAs.

Milan Kloewer and Robert van der Drift stand on top of a rock, looking off and pointing at something out of frame.

Milan and Robert Scheming…

34 people pose for a photo at the top of a foggy mountain around a wooden sign that reads "Mount Washington State Park"

We made it to the top of Mt. Washington! It was very foggy, since we were so high up (elevation: ~6300 ft) that we were essentially in the clouds. That’s more than 20 Green Buildings high!

Seven people in rain coats stand on the edge of a rocky mountain in intense fog. Next to them is a stone cairn.

But it’s never too foggy to stop and talk about rocks.

Day five – Diana’s Baths

Grace O'Neil and Markey R Freudenburg-Puricelli stand back-to-back, posing with small scientific instruments like Charlie's Angels.

The TAs are all geared up! Notice how Markey has a hand lens on her lanyard and Grace has two (2) weather stations.

Three people stand on rocks on the edge of a river running through a forest, taking photos of a waterfall.

Our last day included a relaxing day at Diana’s Baths. This waterfall was so mesmerizing that everyone stopped to take a photo (and undergrad TA Titus stopped to take a photo of the photo takers).

A person jumps from a rock in the middle of a river onto a stone outcrop, where another person is waiting for them.

Taking a leap of faith.

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