CORVALLIS, Ore. — New technology from Oregon State University will help better track how much water comes from snowpack every year.
The snow water storage metric measures how much water is actually held in a snowpack, and for how long that water is held. This measurement can be applied to multiple types of snowpack, not just the ones usually measured on April 1.
OSU PhD student and researcher on this project Christina Aragon says this is especially important for areas like Oregon.
When we have increasing variability in our snowpack, so places that just don’t have continuous snowpack or where the snow comes and goes, this metric can be applied and still tell you about how the snowpack is or is not functioning as a natural reservoir for water.
Aragon says the study also found a significant decrease in snowpack amounts over the past four decades linked to climate change. She hopes to see this new metric adopted by other snowpack measuring agencies in the near future.
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