Continuous Snow Monitoring for Improved Water Supply Management

Population growth and shifting weather patterns are putting unprecedented pressure on the water supply for 40 million people in the Western United States and for one-sixth of the global population. The primary source of this water is snowmelt from remote mountain regions, which is challenging to measure. However, accurate tracking of snowpack is essential for predicting how much water will be available to support cities, agriculture, hydropower, and ecosystems as the snow melts each year. We are developing a robust decision support tool that leverages NASA remote sensing assets, including satellite optical and synthetic aperture radar. These, combined with weather radar, ground sensors, and physics-guided machine learning, will provide continuous monitoring of the temporal evolution of snow water equivalent throughout the snow year. Our prototype focus is development of a commercial offering that delivers operational snow water equivalent maps at spatial and temporal resolutions tailored to water management needs. We will enhance algorithms, test geographic transferability, and develop the commercial offering with stakeholder input. This decision support tool will provide actionable insights for water resource management in near real-time supporting decisions for timing and magnitude of recharge, reservoir release, diversion, and curtailment. The target markets for our tool are organizations that rely heavily on snowmelt for their water supply. Our market analysis highlights key segments such as water conservancy and conservation districts, irrigation districts, and industrial users. Other important stakeholders include reservoir managers responsible for flood and drought mitigation, recreation and environmental flow releases, those managing water rights and interstate compacts, municipal and regional water utilities involved in water storage, and hydropower generators allocating flow for energy production.