On 14 August, ASO surveyed the Ranch and Sayre fire sites in northern Los Angeles County in support of the Chlorophyll Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer (CFIS) project, successfully completing a total of 37 flight lines.
The Airborne Snow Observatory began July surveys of select basins of the eastern Sierra Nevada for the California Department of Water Resources. These surveys were especially important to DWR as nearly all of the conventional ground snow sensors have melted out and are no longer providing data. ASO is therefore the only source of insight into the snow depth of the remaining snow in the upper elevations of the Sierra Nevada.
ASO completed its June 1 California surveys of the Tuolumne, San Joaquin, Lee Vining and Rush Creek basins. Support and funding for these surveys came from NASA’s Western Water Applications Office. After California, ASO surveyed the Rio Grande and Conejos basins for the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
ASO has begun June 1 snow surveys in the Sierra Nevada, including the Tuolumne, San Joaquin, Lee Vining, and Rush Creek basins. This effort is being supported by the Western Water Applications Office.
ASO completed its May 1 snow surveys over key basins in the Sierra Nevada including Tuolumne, San Jaoquin, and Merced.
ASO completed its April 1 California snow survey flights and successfully delivered data products for the Tuolumne, San Joaquin, Lakes, Lee Vining, and Rush Creek basins. Fun fact: the sum total snow water equivalent (SWE) for the Tuolumne Basin in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 is 92% of the 2017 snow water equivalent estimate.
ASO began its February 1 acquisitions of snow-on data in the Tuolumne basin last week.
ASO completed a successful campaign with NASA’s SnowEx mission, flying a total of five sorties over the Senator Beck and Grand Mesa basins. The SnowEx mission also collected UAVSAR data and GLISTIN Ka-Band interferometry data nearly coincident with ASO data. This collection of airborne and ground measurements will be hugely beneficial for future spaceborne missions to understand the global water cycle and snowpack interaction.
ASO performed its first successful surveys of the Grand Mesa and Senator Beck basins last week as part of the SnowEx campaign in Colorado.
ASO flights over the Grand Mesa and Senator Beck basins
ASO started its first flights of the 2017 California snow season on January 28-30. This campaign covers the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Rush, Lakes, and Lee Vining basins in the Sierra Nevada. These flights will provide insight to the recent record snowfall to several water operators in the state of California.
