This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| SnowEx | |
|---|---|
| Name | SnowEx |
| Caption | Aerial view of snow-covered basin |
| Established | 2016 |
| Location | United States |
| Type | Multi-year airborne campaign |
SnowEx
SnowEx is a multi-year airborne and ground-based observational campaign led by a major U.S. space agency to quantify snow properties and improve remote sensing of snowpack across diverse Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, Alaska Range, Greenland, Antarctica, Great Basin, Cascade Range, and Appalachian Mountains test sites. Designed as an interdisciplinary effort, SnowEx integrates airborne radar, lidar, imaging spectrometers, and in situ measurements to support satellite missions such as ICESat-2, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive), Landsat 8, MODIS, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and inform modeling efforts by groups using tools from NASA, NOAA, USGS, NSF, and international partners like ESA and JAXA. The campaign links experts from universities, federal laboratories, and industry including University of Colorado Boulder, University of Utah, Colorado State University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
SnowEx was initiated to address limitations in passive and active microwave, lidar, and optical remote sensing of snow across boreal, alpine, and polar regions observed by platforms such as Terra (satellite), Aqua (satellite), Suomi NPP, and forthcoming missions like NISAR and PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem). The program emphasizes combined airborne campaigns, ground truthing, and modeling activities with participation from institutions including University of Washington, Princeton University, University of Alaska, University of Montana, Oregon State University, Michigan Technological University, and University of California, Berkeley. SnowEx coordinates with operational services like NOHRSC and stakeholders including Bureau of Reclamation, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and regional water utilities.
Primary goals include improving retrievals of snow water equivalent (SWE), snow depth, grain size, and snow liquid water content to benefit applications in water resource management, flood forecasting, and climate research tied to programs like IPCC assessments and National Climate Assessment. Objectives align with satellite validation needs for missions such as ICESat heritage missions and complement studies by ARCTIC, GLIMS, and cryospheric networks like GTN-P. SnowEx seeks to reduce uncertainties that affect models used by USACE for reservoir operations and NOAA National Weather Service for hydrologic forecasting while supporting academic inquiries at Stanford University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell University.
Campaign design integrates instruments including airborne radar systems like across-track and polarimetric radars similar to those developed at Dartmouth College and University of Kansas, lidar instruments analogous to those used on ICESat-2 and by groups at NASA Langley Research Center, imaging spectrometers in VIS/NIR/SWIR ranges influenced by AVIRIS heritage from Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and ground-based sensors from networks affiliated with CUAHSI and FLUXNET. Instrument suites have included Ku-band, X-band, Ka-band radars, polarimetric SAR prototypes, frequency-domain and time-domain ground-penetrating radars from teams at University of Colorado Boulder and University of Utah, near-infrared spectrometers used by Los Alamos National Laboratory, and microwave radiometers inspired by SMAP engineering. Airborne platforms have included turboprops and helicopters operated by Fixed Wing Operator, contractors, and university flight centers such as Colorado State University Flight Research Center and University of Michigan Atmospheric Flight Facility.
Field campaigns occurred in multi-year phases starting mid-2010s with core seasons in 2016, 2017, 2018, and subsequent years targeting varied sites: alpine basins in the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Range, continental interior locations in the Great Plains fringe, boreal environments in Alaska and Canada, and polar tests on Greenland coastal zones. Each season included coordinated intensive observation periods with participation from teams at University of Montana, Idaho National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Logistics involved collaborations with agencies such as NOAA Aircraft Operations Center, USGS Earth Resources Observation, and local partners including Utah Department of Natural Resources and California Department of Water Resources.
Data processing workflows produce calibrated airborne radar, lidar, and imaging spectrometer datasets, gridded SWE maps, snow depth products, and uncertainty estimates for assimilation into land surface models like NOAH-MP, JULES, VIC, and hydrologic forecasting systems used by USACE and NOAA NWS. Data products have been archived and distributed through portals associated with NASA Earthdata, NSIDC, and institutional repositories at University of Colorado Boulder and University of Utah. Processing employs software from collaborations with Google Earth Engine research groups, assimilation frameworks such as OpenDA, and community tools developed at CSU, NCAR, and LANL.
Key findings demonstrated that combining multi-frequency radar, lidar, and imaging spectroscopy reduces SWE retrieval uncertainty across shallow and deep snowpacks, influencing mission concepts for NISAR and informing calibration strategies for ICESat-2 and SMAP. Results have impacted water resource management practices used by Bureau of Reclamation and regional water authorities, advanced cryospheric science at institutions like Columbia University and University of Colorado Boulder, and informed climate model parameterizations used by researchers at NOAA GFDL and NCAR. Publications in journals with contributions from scientists at Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, UCLA, Yale University, and ETH Zurich have expanded the community of practice.
SnowEx engaged a broad consortium including federal agencies (NASA, NOAA, USGS, NSF), national laboratories (LANL, LBNL, PNNL, SNL), universities (University of Colorado Boulder, University of Utah, Colorado State University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Oregon State University), and international partners (ESA, JAXA, Environment and Climate Change Canada). Industrial partners and instrument developers from companies working with Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon contributed sensor systems, while water managers from Bureau of Reclamation and regional utilities participated in application workshops. Community engagement included training and outreach with organizations like American Geophysical Union, AGU, European Geosciences Union, American Meteorological Society, and local stakeholder groups.