You probably didn’t notice a twin-engine prop plane loaded with high-tech equipment circling 23,000 feet over the San Joaquin Valley’s upper watersheds this fall. But it was there, gathering information about those watersheds in their “snow off” condition. That detailed information will be vital to multiple follow up flights of Airborne Snow Observatories, Inc. (ASO) this winter as snow accumulates in the highest reaches of the Sierra Nevada. This is the first year the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has funded flights for nearly all the state’s watersheds, 12, at a cost of about $10 million to $11 million. And this is the first year the Kern River watershed will be examined using ASO’s mix of LIDAR and imaging spectrometry that can measure snow depth to within two inches, according to ASO information. “It’s a whole new adventure,” David Rizzardo, a hydrology section manager for DWR, said of flying Kern’s watershed.
