| February 10, 2003 Scientists in the Snow: Improving Water, Weather and Climate Forecasts Scientists and students from six federal agencies and many universities will study the snowpacks of the Colorado Rockies from the ground, air and space this winter and spring to improve forecasts of springtime water supply and snowmelt floods and to study how snow-cover affects the Earth's weather and climate. The 2003 Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX) runs from February 19-25 and March 25-31. It will be conducted in the central Rocky Mountains of the western United States, where there is a wide array of different terrain, snow, soil, and ecological characteristics. "We'll use the information derived from this project to better understand the formation and evolution of snowpacks, especially the processes involving the timing of snowmelt," said Don Cline, NOAA scientist at NWS/NOHRSC and leader of CLPX. "Measurements we made during CLPX last year have already been extremely useful for helping us understand how to update water and weather forecast models with observed snow information." Further studies will help design better sensors to measure the water content of snow from space. In the future, new remote sensing measurements coupled with water and weather forecast models should improve prediction of water supplies, floods, weather and climate. "The primary goal of CLPX is to determine the best methods of finding the liquid water equivalent of snow using remote sensing techniques," said, Jared Entin, Manager of NASA's Terrestrial Hydrology Program. Entin said that remote sensing of snow is a challenge, because different techniques are required for wet and dry snow. "Snow is very crucial to the Western United States, where 40-50 percent of the precipitation falls as snow, and more than 80 percent of the runoff can come from the snowpack. Improving our ability to measure the water quantity stored as snow and knowing more about snowmelt processes will enable better use of water resources," Entin noted. Jointly sponsored by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), CLPX is a research mission concerned with frozen landscapes, where water is frozen either seasonally or permanently. Cold land regions form a major component of the Earth's hydrologic system. This is the second year of intensive snow measurements in Colorado's mountains and high-elevation rangelands. A major advance in this year's mission is the inclusion of several advanced satellite and airborne sensors to determine the best ways to conduct remote sensing of the global cryosphere. Dozens of scientists will be using skis, snowmobiles, and aircraft to survey and sample snow during the CPLX field experiment. They will also use microwave measurements from satellites and aircraft to measure characteristics of snowpack and the freeze/thaw state of the land surface. Measurements from four aircraft and NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites will gather snow data by remote sensing. The data gathered on the ground and from the aircraft will then be compared to that obtained by the satellites to determine the accuracy of the satellite data. Researchers hope someday to be able to measure snow quantity and frozen ground from space anywhere in the world without a ground team, particularly in inaccessible areas. Ground teams, however, do play a crucial part in instrument validation and calibration. Researchers from several NASA field centers will conduct the experiment with NOAA scientists from the National Weather Service's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NWS/NOHRSC). Other participants include scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Region Research and Engineering Lab, the U.S. Geological Survey, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and graduate students from universities around the world. The CLPX is sponsored by NASA's Terrestrial Hydrology Program and the Earth Observing System Program, and by NOAA's Office of Global Programs to address broad interagency objectives in hydrology, water resources, ecology, and atmospheric sciences. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. NASA's Earth Science Enterprise is dedicated to understanding the Earth as an integrated system and applying Earth System Science to improve prediction of climate, weather, and natural hazards using the unique vantage point of space. For reporters who would like to attend the media day at the CLPX: To arrange field dates, contact: Kent Laborde or Scott Smullen, NOAA Public Affairs, Telephone: 202-482-5757 or 202-482-1097. To attend media day, please contact David Steitz or Elvia Thompson at NASA Headquarters. Telephone: 202-358-1730 or 202-358-1696 ###
Contacts:
David Steitz
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1730)
Rob Gutro
NASA Goddard
Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286-4044)
AMS Press Room Phone: 562/628-8204
Between 8am and 5pm, Feb. 10-13
Kent Laborde
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington
(Phone: 202/482-5757) | |
 Making Field Measurements Denny Hogan and Steve Muller collect measurements at the Alpine Intensive Study Area, Colorado. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  Measuring Snow From Above The NOAA AC690 (National Weather Service Airborne Snow Survey) aircraft making snow water equivalent measurements at 500' altitude over the North Park Study Area. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  FMCW Radar Installation Gary Koh of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works on setting up components of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) Radar system. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  Protocol Training Begins Kelly Elder (left), of the U.S. Forest Service, is the Field Coordinator for the CLPX. Here he begins the protocol training on Monday morning. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  Working In A Snow Pit Asa Twombly digging a snow pit for characterization of snow, especially the distribution, and age of sedimentary snow. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  Trekking Through the Snow Paul Brooks (University of Arizona) and Bard Zajac (Colorado State University) get ready to return to the Fraser Experimental Forest Headquarters from the Fool Creek Intensive Study Area. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  Sampling At Sunrise Sunrise snow depth measurement at sampling point "RSD12" in the Spring Creek Intensive Study Area. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  Checking Snow Density Gus Goodbody (Colorado State University, left) and John Fitzgerald in a snow pit at the Buffalo Pass Intensive Study Area. The photo illustrates the replicate snow density sampling protocol used in all CLPX snow pits. Snow depth here is about 2.2 meters. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program  Aircraft Measurements The NASA DC-8 aircraft before departure from Colorado Springs. CREDIT: Koni Steffen  Working From Above The NASA DC-8 flight crew monitored the incoming data from the radar units. CREDIT: Koni Steffen  How A Radar Scan Looks Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Quicklook image of part of the Rabbit Ears Study Area. - generated from the data read by the instrument aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft. The different colors are used to show the different elevations of the terrain. CREDIT: CLPX NASA Land Surface Hydrology Program |
