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Estimating Snowpack Parameters in the Colorado River Basin
Chang, ATC | Foster, JL | Gloersen, P | Campbell, WJ | Josberger, EG
Large Scale Effects of Seasonal Snow Cover. International
Association of Hydrological Sciences Press, Institute of
Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire UK. IAHS Publication No. 166,
1987. p 343-352, 3 fig, 1 tab, 11 ref.
Melting snow provides over 70% of the water supply for the western
United States. Flooding in the Colorado River basin during the
spring and early summer of 1983 led to recognition of the need for
better estimates of snowmelt runoff from the high elevation
watersheds which contribute most of the runoff for the Colorado
River. Improved knowledge of the snow water storage over the
entire basin should improve forecasts of spring runoff and allow
better management of the water resources. Passive microwave remote
sensors have the capability to penetrate the snowpack and respond
to variations in snowpack properties, thereby providing
information about depth and water equivalent of the snowpack.
Observations from the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multi-channel Microwave
Radiometer (SMMR) have been used successfully in the past for snow
property determination in areas with uniform snow cover such as
the Canadian High Plains. The Colorado River basin, which includes
rugged terrain and heavy vegetation cover, presents a greater
challenge in developing snowpack parameter retrieval techniques.
SMMR data for five winter seasons from 1978 to 1983 were studied
in order to see if a relationship could be established between
microwave brightness temperatures and snow depth measurements made
in different elevation zones and physiographic areas of the
Colorado River basin. Three yrs of data are being used to develop
a snow parameter retrieval algorithm which will then be tested by
using the remaining 2 yrs of data. Preliminary results indicate
that even in heterogeneous mountainous regions it may be possible
to use remotely sensed microwave data to better estimate the water
equivalent of high elevation snowpacks. (See also W90-01850)
(Author 's abstract)
 Descriptors: Snow cover-runoff relationships | Snow cover | Model studies | Snowmelt | Runoff forecasting | Flood forecasting | Remote sensing | Colorado River Basin | Satellite technology | Snow cover-atmospheric
relationships | Runoff | Microwaves
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