GUNNISON, Colo.—At a tiny airport surrounded by mountains, a three-person crew takes off for the inaugural flight above the headwaters of the Colorado River to measure the region’s snow by air.
Under the plane is a device that uses lasers, cameras, and sensors to map snow and help drought-prone communities improve forecasts of how much water will later fill reservoirs.
The method, developed nearly a decade ago at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “is the gold standard of snow measurement,” said Emily Carbone of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, one of Colorado’s largest water providers and the primary funder for the flight.
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