RTD on NASA's deep dive into CA water

[WB Staff]

From Restore the Delta
NASA takes a deep dive into California's thinning snowpack.
"How the boom-and-bust snow cycles in the Sierra Nevada will play out as the world warms remains to be seen. A study published in 2020 showed that 2000-2018 was the driest period in the U.S. Southwest since the late 1500s. The past three years have continued the trend."

In Spanish, Sierra Nevada means “snowy mountain range.” While the term “snowy” has generally been true for most of U.S. history, those mountains have seen less snow accumulation in recent years. This decline plays a role in water management and response to drought in California and other western states.

Each spring and summer, meltwater runoff from Sierra Nevada snowpack helps replenish rivers and reservoirs, while also recharging the groundwater. In fact, snowpack accounts for about 30 percent of California’s water supply in a typical year, according to the California Department of Water Resources. About three-fourths of the state’s precipitation in an average year falls as snow and rain in Northern and Central California—mostly the Sierra Nevada.

The time-lapse series of images above shows springtime snow-covered area on the Sierra Nevada from 2006 to 2021. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired each natural-color image around April 1. The date falls halfway through the water year (October 1 through September 30) at the time when snowpack has generally peaked and begun to melt. Snow totals at that time, particularly snow-water equivalents, are important input for spring and summer water supply forecasts.

The depth and breadth of the seasonal snowpack on the Sierra Nevada depends on whether a winter is wet or dry. Wet winters, like 2006 and 2017, tend to stack up deep snowpack. In 2015, after four years of hot and dry conditions in California and Nevada, snowpack reached historically low levels.
READ IT ALL AND SEE TIME LAPSE VIDEO: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/image ... ierra-snow

[gabuelhaj]

Now's a good time to get started on that tunnel to the Great Lakes. No snow will make it easy peasy!

Good luck!

[Kelly Ripa]

I personally worked on Modis and it's Lab/ground support of the project for years. It was an impressive satellite with something like 12 instruments on board that had never even been attempted in space. Our portion of the program? The optics. It had Moderate resolution as opposed to LandSat ( our satellite also) and because of the different " angles of resolution " from the different satellites working together. Each satellite was different in a specific way as to gain maximum perspective from the orbits the different satellites used. In conjunction with the other satellites that measure the ground water they paint a bleak picture. I had heard through some of our scientists that it we are in a Worldwide weather pattern that has not been seen for years...Back around 500 A.D. sometime!

I agree with gabhuelhaj that a tunnel should get underway prior to the future water riots on the west coast. Better than a Mag-Lev train to nowhere with shovel ready jobs.

Rip

[Shooter]

I’m no rocket scientist but seems to me there’s plenty of water in the ocean. Why aren’t we building desalination plants so we’re not entirely dependent on snowpack? Maybe all the money available from the libs defunding the police can be put to something we need like water instead of more worthless social or more accurate socialist programs.

[mark poulson]

Desalination plants and better water recycling are the only way we can be truly safe from global warming in California. And a pipeline from the Mississippi to Lake Powell, to rewater the West.