The NASA Airborne Snow Observatory: Demonstration Mission-3 and the Path Forward to a Broader ASO Program

Abstract:

The NASA Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO), an imaging spectrometer and imaging LiDAR system, to quantify snow water equivalent and snow albedo, provide unprecedented knowledge of snow properties, and provide complete, robust inputs to snowmelt runoff models, water management models, and systems of the future. This talk presents results from the third Demonstration Mission that occurred during the intense California drought of spring 2015, a snow year far worse than the previously worst snow year on record of 2014, and an overview of the various analyses that are finally available due to the uniqueness of the ASO data.

In 2015, ASO provided complete basin coverage for the Tuolumne, Merced, Lakes, Rush Creek, and Middle+South Forks of Kings River Basins in the California Sierra Nevada and the Upper Rio Grande, Conejos, and Uncompahgre Basins in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. ASO performed its first wintertime acquisitions in the Tuolumne Basin in response to water managers’ needs to quantify SWE volume in what was already realized as dire conditions.

Analyses show that with ASO data, river flows and reservoir inflows from the ASO acquisition date to 1 July can be estimated with uncertainties of less than 2%. These results provide enormous value in management operational flexibility for the diversity of needs, and provide strong scientific constraints on the physical processes controlling snowmelt runoff. Snowmelt runoff models are markedly better constrained due to the now accurate knowledge of the distribution of snow water equivalent.

With the ASO high-resolution spectrometer and lidar data for a snow-free acquisition, we can determine surface classifications, vegetation heights, and river networks. These data allow runoff models to be accurately and rapidly developed with unprecedented accuracy. These data are now being used to constrain models of varying complexity.

Finally, we discuss the path forward on expanding ASO to cover the entire Sierra Nevada and the Upper Colorado River Basin. Such a plan will facilitate vast improvements in water science, water management, forest management, and extension to atmospheric sciences, carbon and ecosystem science.