Pilot tests of satellite snowcover/runoff forecasting systems

NASA instituted Applications Systems Verification and Transfer (ASVT) programs to demonstrate and test the usefulness of developing technology in remote sensing. Because results from satellite snow mapping and runoff correlations have been encouraging, a cooperative, quasi-operational, four-year test program was started with various agencies in four major snow zones of the Western U.S. These areas were selected to test the capability of satellite systems for mapping snowcover in various snow, cloud, climatic, and vegetation regimes. Different satellite snowcover analysis methods are being used in each of the study areas. The snowcover data have been employed in illustrations of the effects of drought, in regression methods to forecast seasonal runoff, and in hydrologic models for simulations of daily streamflows. The suitabiliaty of the satellites for snowcover mapping in the various regions and the applicability of the forcasting techniques are being assessed. The final year of testing (1978) and a proposed operational snowcover system will be described.