JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo

ASO

Airborne Snow Observatory

The Airborne Snow Observatory is an Earth-based mission designed to collect data on the snow melt flowing out of major water basins in the western United States.

Visit Mission Website

Mission Statistics

Launch Date

April 3, 2013

Type

Ground-based

Target

Earth

Status

Current

About the mission

The Airborne Snow Observatory is an Earth-based mission designed to collect data on the snow melt flowing out of major water basins in the western United States. The data could help improve water management for 1.5 billion people worldwide who rely on snow melt for their water supply.

The mission began a three-year demonstration in April 2013, flying aboard a Twin Otter aircraft that makes weekly flights over the Tuolumne River Basin in California and monthly flights over the Uncompahgre River Basin in Colorado during the snow-melt season. These basins are the primary water supply for millions of Americans in the western United States.

The Airborne Snow Observatory is a collaboration between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Department of Water Resources.

Key Discoveries

  • Created the first maps of the entire snow pack of two major mountain watersheds in California and Colorado, producing the most accurate measurements of how much water they hold.
  • Performed the first snowfall precipitation measurements over entire mountain basins, providing atmospheric scientists and hydrologists with their first spatially complete understandings of precipitation in mountains.

Instruments

  • Imaging Spectrometer
  • LIDAR

More about Earth and Weather

Image .

Lake Ohrid, Macedonia-Albania

News .

NASA’s ECOSTRESS Detects ‘Heat Islands’ in Extreme Indian Heat Wave

Image .

ECOSTRESS Detects Heat Islands in Indian Heat Wave

Image .

EMIT Inside SpaceX Falcon 9 Trunk Ahead of Transport

Image .

EMIT Loaded Into SpaceX Falcon 9 Trunk Before Transport

News .

International Satellite to Track Impacts of Small Ocean Currents

News .

From Weather Forecasting to Climate Change, NASA’s AIRS Builds a Legacy

News .

From Weather Forecasting to Climate Change, NASA’s AIRS Builds a Legacy

News .

NASA’s EMIT Will Map Tiny Dust Particles to Study Big Climate Impacts

Image .

Global Mineral Dust Source Regions to Be Measured by EMIT

Mission Website

Explore Other Missions

CloudSat

ECOSTRESS

AcrimSat

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

Aquarius

Deep Space Atomic Clock

Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer

AVIRIS-NG

ASTER

Explorer 1

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono