The Council and NASA organized a workshop that was held on August 25-27, 2014 at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, to exchange information about opportunities and challenges associated with use of remote sensing applications to support water management. The workshop began at 1:00 on Monday the 25th and concluded at noon on Wednesday the 27th. The event included a tour of JPL’s Earth Science Center, Space Flight Operations Facility, and Mars Yard. The Mars Yard is a simulated Martian landscape used by researchers to test different robotic prototypes, such as the Mars rovers. (See this website (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/interactives/photosynth/) for images of the Mars Yard.) Cameras are permitted on the facility.
The workshop provided an opportunity for NASA to brief Council members on current and emerging observations and research activities that may have applicability to Western water, and for Council members to discuss needs for research and continuity of observations with NASA. Topics covered included: status of Landsat program continuity, observing snowpack, mapping land subsidence with radar imagery, mapping fallowed agricultural lands, and observing extreme precipitation/atmospheric river storms.
The Council advocated vigorously (and successfully) for inclusion of a thermal infrared sensor on Landsat 8, launched in 2013, so member states such as Idaho could continue using remotely sensed data for water rights administration. Language in the 2014 Senate Appropriations Committee budget bill for NASA directs NASA to immediately start working on Landsat 9, at a cost not to exceed $650 million.
AGENDA: JPL Meeting Agenda
PRESENTATIONS: (Permission has been received to share the following presentations.)
NASA Earth and Applied Science – Brad Doorn, Program Manager, Water Resources Program, NASA
Landsat 8 Mission Status – Jeff Masek, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Mapping Snow from the Air – Tom Painter, Scientist, NASA JPL
Mapping Fallowed Areas – Forrest Melton, Senior Research Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
Monitoring Water Infrastructure – Cathleen Jones, NASA JPL
Mapping Land Subsidence using Satellites – Tom Farr, NASA JPL
Monitoring Subsidence in Arizona – Brian Conway, Arizona Department of Water Resources
Atmospheric Rivers and Sub-seasonal Forecasting – Duane Waliser, Chief Scientist, Earth Sciences & Technology, NASA JPL
GPS Inference of Soil Moisture – Kristine Larson, Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado
Overview of Water Resource Applications – John Bolten, Physical Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Exploring Remote Sensing Options for Water Management in Montana – Tim Davis, Administrator, Water Resources Division, MT Department of Natural Resources and Conservation
Using Remote Sensing for Irrigation Water Use – Mindy Conyers, Program Specialist, Texas Water Development Board
Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission – Dara Entekhabi, Director, Earth System Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Evapotranspiration (ET) Advances in Airborne and Satellite Technology – Josh Fisher, NASA JPL
NASA/Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar (NI-SAR) Mission – Paul Rosen, NASA JPL