Montana State University's Subzero Science and Engineering Research Facility: New Interdisciplinary Cold Regions Research Laboratories

Montana State University recently completed construction and commissioning of a low temperature research facility with funding from the National Science Foundation, Murdock Charitable Trust and Montana State University. The Subzero Science and Engineering Research Facility (housed in the Department of Civil Engineering) supports a broad range of cold regions research disciplines including structural, soil, asphalt, concrete, geosynthetics, life sciences, ice/snow mechanics, wetlands, streams, transportation, and earth sciences. The simulated environments are applicable from medium/low latitude winter to polar. The facility has several world unique capabilities in environmental simulation and includes eight walk in cold laboratories, three smaller low temperature biological incubators/ environmental chambers, a low temperature epifluorescence microscope, and a temperature controlled computed tomography (CT) scanner. Each of the laboratories, while adaptable for broad application, is designed with a specific scientific focus in mind. Functions of the fully programmable individual cold laboratories include: units that provide simulation of solar and sky radiation providing realistic energy balance, a large scale structural engineering test bed, a class 1000 clean room with class 100 work area, a unit in which the liquid water phase maintains an influential environmental role, room for specimen storage, a teaching laboratory with ample room for student groups and general specimen preparation area. The paper summarizes the specific capabilities of each chamber and describes the ongoing and future research in these facilities.