Patterns in Snowfall: Finding the Unexpected in Nature
| Title | Patterns in Snowfall: Finding the Unexpected in Nature |
| Publication Type | Poster |
| Year of Publication | 2018 |
| Authors | Sinclair, L, Smith, T, Smith, D |
| Conference | AGU 2018 |
| Date Published | 12/2018 |
| Conference Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Keywords | OLYMPEX, outreach, snow, weather patterns |
| Abstract | The Olympic Mountain Experiment (OLYMPEX) was the last of a series of ground validation field campaigns designed to verify measurements from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite. The primary goal of the OLYMPEX field campaign was to validate rain and snow measurements in mid-latitude frontal systems as they moved from the coast to mountaintops. Snow depth measurements at various elevations were collected during the OLYMPEX field campaign to record the changes in snowfall with elevation and to incorporate these values into hydrologic models used to compare with the GPM remotely-sensed precipitation values. Researchers installed about 20 time lapse snow accumulation collection sites throughout the region using snow-depth poles and cameras to capture still imagery every 3 hours during daylight. As an outreach effort to educate users about the use of these snow depth images and data, the NASA Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) developed a snow depth animation showing the accumulation and melting of snow at one of the sites within the GPM Ground Validation Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) field campaign study area. The movie created shows the patterns of snowfall and melting throughout the 2015-2016 winter season.This presentation shows the creation of the timelapse videos and discusses how its impact and reach are measured through social media and website metrics. |
Involved Persons:
