SNARL Seminar - Airborne Snow Observatories measurements of (perhaps) the largest snowpack in Sierra history - Tom Painter

Airborne Snow Observatories, Inc. is a public benefit corporation based in Mammoth Lakes, flying multiple aircraft with scanning lidar and imaging spectrometers to map snow depth, snow water equivalent, and snow albedo wall-to-wall over mountain basins. These accurate measurements are used to update physically-based snow and runoff models, in turn enabling consistently accurate runoff forecasts from snow-dominated basins. In this talk, I describe ASO’s measurements over the Sierra Nevada and applications for flood mitigation, water allocation, and groundwater recharge in this record snowpack year.