UPSC Articles
SnowEx: To assess how much water does snow contain
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III- Science & Technology
In News
- In order to better understand how water is contained in each winter’s snowfall and how much will be available when it melts in the spring, NASA has launched a seasonal campaign called SnowEx.
- The goal is to address the most important gaps in our snow remote sensing knowledge, and thus lay the groundwork for a future snow satellite mission.
- SnowEx assesses where snow has fallen, how much there is and how its characteristics change as it melts. It uses airborne measurements, ground measurements and computer modelling
- The geographical focus of SnowEx is proposed as North America which contains the six broad snow climate categories identified in the literature: tundra (alpine or Arctic), taiga (Boreal forest), warm (temperate) forest, maritime, prairie, and ephemeral.
