1 00:00:00,030 --> 00:00:02,050 Reporter: NASA's been looking at snow cover from space 2 00:00:02,050 --> 00:00:04,060 for decades now but 3 00:00:04,060 --> 00:00:04,080 they 4 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,100 they're learning a little bit more with the field 5 00:00:06,100 --> 00:00:08,120 campaign using airborne 6 00:00:08,120 --> 00:00:10,130 and ground instruments. 7 00:00:10,130 --> 00:00:12,140 Here to tell us a little bit about is 8 00:00:12,140 --> 00:00:14,150 Dr. Dorothy Hall from NASA's 9 00:00:14,150 --> 00:00:16,160 Goddard Space Flight Center. Thanks for joining us. 10 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:18,170 Dorothy: Thank you for having me. 11 00:00:18,170 --> 00:00:20,210 Reporter: NASA's satellites can see this snow cover 12 00:00:20,210 --> 00:00:22,240 from space, how does this winter compare 13 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:24,260 to previous years? 14 00:00:24,260 --> 00:00:26,280 Dorothy: NASA has a fleet of satellites 15 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:28,290 that measure the 16 00:00:28,290 --> 00:00:30,300 Earth's land, ocean, 17 00:00:30,300 --> 00:00:32,320 and atmosphere and of course that 18 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:34,360 includes the snow cover such as 19 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:36,380 you can see here. 20 00:00:36,380 --> 00:00:38,400 Snow cover is highly variable 21 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,410 actually from week to week 22 00:00:40,410 --> 00:00:42,420 month to month and between years. 23 00:00:42,420 --> 00:00:44,440 If you look at the Sierra 24 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:46,450 Nevada snow pack in 2015 25 00:00:46,450 --> 00:00:48,450 it was only 26 00:00:48,450 --> 00:00:50,470 about 25% of normal. 27 00:00:50,470 --> 00:00:52,510 Where as in 2017 this year 28 00:00:52,510 --> 00:00:54,530 it's a 180% 29 00:00:54,530 --> 00:00:54,540 of normal. 30 00:00:54,540 --> 00:00:56,540 of normal. That's more snow then they've 31 00:00:56,540 --> 00:00:58,550 seen there in about 20 years. 32 00:00:58,550 --> 00:01:00,570 Reporter: So NASA scientist 33 00:01:00,570 --> 00:01:02,580 are in the field right now testing 34 00:01:02,580 --> 00:01:04,630 these advanced technologies to measure snow 35 00:01:04,630 --> 00:01:06,660 like never before. What will these new 36 00:01:06,660 --> 00:01:08,680 measurements tell us about snow? 37 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,710 Dorothy: NASA has been measuring 38 00:01:11,710 --> 00:01:14,710 snow cover from space for decades 39 00:01:14,710 --> 00:01:17,730 but the real challenge now is to measure 40 00:01:17,730 --> 00:01:20,740 snow depth from space because that's 41 00:01:20,740 --> 00:01:23,760 tells us how much water is in the snow 42 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,790 that we need to use for our water resources 43 00:01:26,790 --> 00:01:29,820 so there is a major airborne NASA campaign 44 00:01:29,820 --> 00:01:32,850 going on now where we can 45 00:01:32,850 --> 00:01:35,870 are working on figuring out what is the optimum 46 00:01:35,870 --> 00:01:38,890 combination of instruments that we can use 47 00:01:38,890 --> 00:01:41,920 to measure snow depth from space on a 48 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:42,930 global basics. 49 00:01:42,930 --> 00:01:45,960 Reporter: Can NASA see falling snow from space too? 50 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:48,990 Dorothy: Yes we can. 51 00:01:48,990 --> 00:01:52,040 We have the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission 52 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,060 or GPM and 53 00:01:54,060 --> 00:01:57,100 GPM is designed to measure 54 00:01:57,100 --> 00:02:01,120 snow falling and rain falling and we can measure 55 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,140 that from space. 56 00:02:03,140 --> 00:02:05,150 If you look at this animation of 57 00:02:05,150 --> 00:02:08,200 a major storm that hit the east coast of the US 58 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:11,210 major snow storm in 2015 you can see 59 00:02:11,210 --> 00:02:14,230 layers of snow and 60 00:02:14,230 --> 00:02:17,250 this information, this data is very useful 61 00:02:17,250 --> 00:02:20,260 for improving weather prediction models. 62 00:02:20,260 --> 00:02:23,300 Reporter: Up to 70% of water resources 63 00:02:23,300 --> 00:02:26,340 in the western US come from snow melt, California has been getting 64 00:02:26,340 --> 00:02:29,360 heavy snow and rain recently. Does that mean the drought is over? 65 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,370 Dorothy: Actually it doesn't 66 00:02:32,370 --> 00:02:35,380 mean that it's over. We are getting a lot 67 00:02:35,380 --> 00:02:38,410 of rain, as you know, infact the rain is 68 00:02:38,410 --> 00:02:41,430 over filling many of the reservoirs. 69 00:02:41,430 --> 00:02:44,450 In California, but there's 70 00:02:44,450 --> 00:02:47,450 a long way to go to restore and replenish 71 00:02:47,450 --> 00:02:50,460 the ground water supplies. 72 00:02:50,460 --> 00:02:53,480 The very important ground water supplies in Californina 73 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,510 help with irrigation of crops. 74 00:02:56,510 --> 00:02:59,520 And so this is way we don't consider that the drought 75 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,530 is over. It will take several more years of 76 00:03:02,530 --> 00:03:05,550 above average precipitation to 77 00:03:05,550 --> 00:03:08,570 replenish those ground water supplies. 78 00:03:08,570 --> 00:03:10,580 Reporter: How does snow impact parts of the country 79 00:03:10,580 --> 00:03:12,620 that rarely see any snowfall? 80 00:03:12,620 --> 00:03:14,650 Dorothy: If you walk in 81 00:03:14,650 --> 00:03:16,670 to any super market 82 00:03:16,670 --> 00:03:18,690 and you look at the produce 83 00:03:18,690 --> 00:03:20,710 you realize that about 84 00:03:20,710 --> 00:03:22,720 half of the produce 85 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:24,750 that we eat 86 00:03:24,750 --> 00:03:26,770 in this country comes from the 87 00:03:26,770 --> 00:03:28,790 central valley of California 88 00:03:28,790 --> 00:03:30,800 and the central valley 89 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:32,800 gets a lot of it's water for 90 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,800 irrigation of the crops from 91 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:36,810 snow melt directly from the 92 00:03:36,810 --> 00:03:38,840 Sierra Nevada mountains. 93 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:40,850 So that directly influences us. 94 00:03:40,850 --> 00:03:42,860 Even if we don't have snow 95 00:03:42,860 --> 00:03:42,870 cover in our particular region where we live. 96 00:03:42,870 --> 00:03:46,900 cover in our particular region where we live. 97 00:03:46,900 --> 00:03:49,910 Reporter: Where can we learn more? 98 00:03:49,910 --> 00:03:53,940 Dorothy: If you go to snow.nasa.gov 99 00:03:53,940 --> 00:03:57,940 you can learn more about the ongoing SnowX campaign 100 00:03:57,940 --> 00:03:57,960 that's going on now in Colorado 101 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,990 that's going on now in Colorado 102 00:04:00,990 --> 00:04:04,010 as well as a lot more information on satellite 103 00:04:04,010 --> 00:04:05,145 remote sensing in general.