Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE)

Spring snowmelt helps recharge and contribute around 80% of water storage into Western reservoirs. It is a critical element to evaluate how much snowmelt will enter the reservoirs to estimate proper release of water from dams, mitigate potential floods, maintain conservation pool storage, and manage water delivery volumes for the Reclamation’s water management (Reclamation 2006). Thus, there is an ongoing need to evaluate the feasibility and value of using the Interferometric Synthetic-Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique to increase the detection accuracy of snow depth and density, quantify seasonal snow-melt water resources, and improve accuracy into river and reservoir operation models to better inform water allotments and planning efforts. Accurate understanding of seasonal snow cover is one of the most critical components in predicting water resources, supply planning, and parameters for hydrological water operation models. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of using the InSAR technique as a tool for measuring seasonal snow depth and inform snow-melt water resources for the Reclamation water information system. Snow depth estimation is a critical component for quantifying seasonal Reclamation water resources at reservoir areas, expanding the use of the hydrologic database across Reclamation regions, assisting other water facility operational decisions for hydrological applications with real-time data, and informing recreational reservoir water users of reservoir water conditions.