Airborne Snow Observatories, Inc.

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Airborne Snow Observatories, Inc. Snow measurements and modeling to support sustainable global water supplies.

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for our 11th annual ASO workshop in Tahoe!Who else is already looking forwar...
09/30/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for our 11th annual ASO workshop in Tahoe!

Who else is already looking forward to next year?

Here’s the agenda for our final day of the 2026 ASO Annual Workshop. We’ll close things out with remarks at 2pm PT. Than...
09/17/2026

Here’s the agenda for our final day of the 2026 ASO Annual Workshop. We’ll close things out with remarks at 2pm PT.

Thanks for being part of another great workshop!

Here's the agenda for day one of the 2026 ASO Annual Workshop! Whether you're joining us in person or virtually, we can'...
09/15/2026

Here's the agenda for day one of the 2026 ASO Annual Workshop! Whether you're joining us in person or virtually, we can't wait to kick things off with you soon!

08/11/2026

Redistribution of snow by wind is a major contributor to spatial variability in snow depth and snow water equivalent, shown here by our imagery and lidar-derived snow depth data. Wind and blowing snow are extremely difficult and expensive to model reliably.

ASO captures the wind-induced spatial variation and can also inform research into blowing snow physics and modeling by accurately and precisely measuring the depth of snow where it sits.

To learn more, check out some excellent research using ASO data to understand wind transport of snow and its implications for snowmelt runoff and glacier building:
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL113599
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/3193/2025/

Snow albedo plays a key role in how quickly snowpack melts. High albedo means more sunlight is reflected, reducing the a...
07/15/2026

Snow albedo plays a key role in how quickly snowpack melts. High albedo means more sunlight is reflected, reducing the amount of solar energy going into the snowpack. As snow ages or darkens with dust and debris, albedo drops and more energy is absorbed by the snowpack, accelerating melt and changing runoff timing.

Airborne Snow Observatories uses visible through near-infrared spectrometers to measure snow albedo across entire mountain basins to better understand and forecast these melt dynamics.

https://www.airbornesnowobservatories.com/

The 2026 ASO Annual Workshop will be held in-person and virtually September 15-17 at Palisades Tahoe in the beautiful Si...
07/10/2026

The 2026 ASO Annual Workshop will be held in-person and virtually September 15-17 at Palisades Tahoe in the beautiful Sierra Nevada.

Registration and lodging booking are now open.

Register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdikNkTe6W7WT-133od1eFR27uUJdSQkIp2wwb9EML6FWCfLg/viewform

Book your room at our group rate: https://www.inntopia.travel/Ecomm/Package/Package/9801138/en-US/?packageid=92321&promocode=AirborneSnowInc2026

Visit the ASO Workshop website for the latest on schedule and logistics: https://www.airbornesnowobservatories.com/workshop/

A limited number of group-rate rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis if booked before August 14, so we encourage planning your travel and securing your room early. Full details are in this week's email, feel free to forward it to anyone who may be interested in joining us.

We're excited to see you in Tahoe this September!

06/15/2026

This is what an airborne lidar survey looks like.

Henry, one of ASO’s flight operators documents a survey of the Dolores River from start to finish: cleaning lenses, powering up the instruments, and running pre-flight tests before climbing to 24,000 feet.

Throughout a six hour flight the lidar and spectrometers are continuously monitored as the plane flies the dozens parallel lines that make up the flight plan.

When the plane touches down, we pull hard drives and begin uploading over a terabyte of raw data to our Compute and Science teams to process into basin-scale, accurate, and precise measurements that drive our runoff forecasts and that water managers use to inform decision making.

Stay tuned for more from the ASO team!

Late in the season many of the Sierra Nevada's automated snow sensors have melted out. Despite warm and dry conditions c...
06/09/2026

Late in the season many of the Sierra Nevada's automated snow sensors have melted out. Despite warm and dry conditions considerable amounts of snow remain at high elevations in complex terrain. Assessing the snow water equivalent of these areas is critical to understanding how much water remains above reservoirs across the state, even after snow sensors go offline.

Over the last month ASO field technicians were on the ground across the Sierras digging snow pits in support of our airborne surveys.

ASO depends on these measurements to support the remote sensing and data processing pipline that accurately and precisely estimates how much water is stored in the snowpack. Our field technicians collect snow density profiles from the snow surface down to the ground. Our team uses these measurements to assess and correct any bias in the isnobal model, combined with spatially complete, lidar-derived snow depths to measure SWE at the basin scale.

Unprecedented warm and dry conditions in 2026 have limited the insights available from point sensors. Our field measurements and basin-wide snow depths build a complete picture of SWE volume and distribution across the full extent of the basin.

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Mammoth Lakes, CA

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