Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE)

The Bureau of Reclamation’s Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program, as established by the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act, 2020, aims to advance emerging snow monitoring technologies and ultimately improve water supply forecasts. The Emerging Technologies in Snow Monitoring Report to Congress (Reclamation 2021a) provides more information on the program and the emerging technologies identified for advancement. The project described in this report is the result of initial program funding. The goal of this project is to catalog, identify and fund Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) flights for subbasins in underserved snowmelt driven watersheds in the Western United States. As a result of this project, ASO flew its first flight in Wyoming, in the Northern Wind River Range, providing 50-meter snow water equivalent estimates. The area met the selection criteria and provided benefits to stakeholders in basins on both sides of the Continental Divide.