NASA Airborne Snow Observatory: Near Real-Time Snow Data for Water Resources Decision-Making

NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) uses scanning lidar and imaging spectrometer to provide high resolution measurements of snow depth, snow albedo, and snow water equivalent (SWE) on a hydrologic basin-wide scale. ASO data not only provides unprecedented insights into cryospheric science, it also provides valuable data to water managers who have come to rely on ASO's 24-48 hour data turnaround time to inform water resource management decisions including seasonal forecasting, water supply, flood management, and hydroelectric power decisions. The low latency ASO data are fed to the USDA ARS AWSM/iSNOBAL model to update the model's mass.

This presentation describes the ASO instrument suite and flight system, processing architecture and data system, and how the data are used, including examples of real-time decision making by water management entities in the California Sierra Nevada enabled by the low latency ASO data.