Tour of the Loch Vale Watershed

On October 16, I was able to join a group of scientists (mostly from the USGS) to tour the Loch Vale watershed, located in Rocky Mountain National Park. We entered Rocky Mountain National Park shortly after 9:00 in the morning and headed into the watershed with our hiking gear. The weather was perfect--cloudy, windy, and chilly at the higher elevations, but a crisp clear day at the start.

Our destination was a weather station located high up in the watershed, just below a couple of glaciers. During the hike, our tour guides, Jill Barron and Don Campbell, shared information with us, such as the ecology of the area and the importance of measuring weather in the watershed. We ate lunch sitting on snow surrounding the weather station and headed back down to the cars by 4:00 in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, we did not get to see the new sublimation measurement site that has been erected in the watershed. Sublimation will be a very important part of my research, and I was looking forward to seeing one and taking a picture. Sublimation is similar to evaporation: Rains or lakes can evaporate into a water vapor gas in the air. But snow (which is too cold to first melt into water) can sublimate into a water vapor gas. Mountain snow is a very precious commodity--it is how most of us on the front range get our drinking water. But researchers have found that we're not getting as much water as the amount of snow in the mountains indicates we should get. Many scientists believe that this is due to sublimation. However, without proper measurements, it is impossible to know for sure how much the mountains lose from sublimation each season.

This is why the sublimation measurement site at the Loch Vale watershed (and other locations in the mountains) are so important. With the data that are collected, scientists will be able to determine the exact effects of wind, solar radiation, dust on snow and other factors have on snow sublimation.

Below I have posted a slideshow of images from my tour of the Loch Vale watershed. And many thanks to those at the USGS who led this tour and provided much valuable information!

Drought Monitor Forum and Colorado Weekly Update

Drought Monitor Forum

October 7-8 I traveled to Austin, TX for the Drought Monitor Forum. Nolan and Henry from the Colorado Climate Center (above) also attended the meeting. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the U.S. Drought Monitor.

http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

Each week, the drought monitor is updated for the entire country. There is a HUGE process for this. It all starts with the drought author, who begins looking at data and drought conditions for the past week. Through much data analysis, many calculations, and large amounts of input from scientists all across the country, they finally post an updated map on the website on Thursday. Click any region of the map and it will zoom in. Then click on any state, and you will see where drought lines fall on a sub-county level. This information is very important not just for scientists but for decision makers in each state/city/county.

This forum was held for several purposes:

1. To inform on the history and the progression of the U.S. Drought Monitor

2. To provide information on useful datasets (how to access/view them) that can help better monitor drought conditions around the country

3. To host open discussions on improving drought monitoring and our understanding of droughts

Some useful datasets:

So here are some useful links I learned more about during the forum. I will hopefully post more information as time goes by.

USGS Data

One interesting feature is the Rain Days link. This shows images of number of consecutive rain days or dry days across the country. The hydrological model output link shows model output of evapotranspiration and soil moisture across the country.

NIDIS Drought Portal

NIDIS (National Integrated Drought Information System), which happens to be funding my work on the Upper Colorado River Basin, provides an interactive drought portal which allows you to pick and choose what data you would like to look at over the map. Hopefully soon, my group will be able to add data specific to our project to the portal, which will allow water managers and others in the water community in CO to more easily access the data they need.

Colorado Basin River Forecast Center

This River Forecast Center not only provides current conditions and forecasts for the Colorado River Basin, but they also provide interesting datasets.

Colorado Drought Weekly Update

My boss recently asked me to read through the Drought Monitor's author narrative and to pass on relevant information about Colorado to him and other coworkers. As soon as I figure out how to post a PDF as an attachment here, I will put that up.