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 25^th and concluded at noon on Wednesday the 27^th.  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