Scientists and students from six federal agencies and many
universities will study the snow packs of the Colorado Rockies from
the ground, air and space this year. Their goal is to improve forecasts
of springtime water supply, snowmelt floods, and to study how snow-
cover affects the Earth’s weather and climate.

The 2003 Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX) runs February
19-25 and March 25-31. It will be conducted in the central Rocky
Mountains of the western United States, where there is a wide array
of different terrain, snow, soil, and ecological characteristics.

Additional studies will help design better sensors to measure the
water content of snow from space. In the future, new remote sensing
measurements coupled with water and weather forecast models
should improve prediction of water supplies, floods, weather and
climate.

Jointly sponsored by NASA and NOAA, CLPX is concerned with
landscapes where water is frozen either seasonally or permanently.
Cold regions form a major component of the Earth’s hydrological
system. This is the second year of intensive snow measurements in
Colorado’s mountains and high-elevation rangelands. A major
advance this year is the inclusion of several advanced satellite and
airborne sensors to determine the best ways to conduct remote
sensing of the global cryosphere.

Measurements from four aircraft and NASA’s Terra and Aqua
satellites will gather snow data by remote sensing. The data gathered
on the ground and from the aircraft will be compared to that obtained
by the satellites to determine the accuracy of the satellite data.
Researchers hope to eventually measure snow quantity and frozen
ground from space, anywhere in the world without a ground team,
particularly in inaccessible areas. Ground teams, however, do play a
crucial part in instrument validation and calibration.

Researchers from several NASA field centers will conduct the
experiment with NOAA scientists from the National Weather
Service’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center
(NWS/NOHRSC). Other participants include scientists at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers Cold Region Research and Engineering Lab, the
U.S. Geological Survey, the USDA Agricultural Research Service,
and graduate students from universities around the world.

CLPX is sponsored by NASA’s Terrestrial Hydrology Program and
the Earth Observing System Program, and by NOAA’s Office of
Global Programs to address broad interagency objectives in
hydrology, water resources, ecology, and atmospheric sciences.
NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-
related events and providing environmental stewardship of our
nation’s coastal and marine resources. NASA’s Earth Science
Enterprise is dedicated to understanding the Earth as an integrated
system and applying Earth System Science to improve prediction of
climate, weather, and natural hazards using the unique vantage point
of space.

Internet links with more information, photographs and images are
posted at:

http://www.nasa.gov/HP_news_03058.html

For reporters who would like to arrange field dates, contact: Kent
Laborde or Scott Smullen, NOAA Public Affairs: 202/482-5757/1097.
To attend media day, please contact David Steitz or Elvia Thompson
at NASA Headquarters: 202/358-1730/1696.