EPSCoR Research Fellows: @NASA: Leveraging high-resolution land modeling and remote sensing to understanding the impacts of light-absorbing particles on Western US snowpack

This Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) EPSCoR Research Fellows project provides a fellowship to an Assistant Professor and training for a graduate student at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Through the fellowship, the PI will investigate how airborne particles such as dust and soot darken mountain snowpack across the Western United States, causing snow to melt faster and worsening drought conditions. The project will combine computer simulations of snow with NASA satellite observations to determine how much of the region's snow melt is driven by these deposited particles, and which river basins are most vulnerable. Results will provide water managers and policymakers with new tools to anticipate and respond to water shortages. The fellowship will also strengthen research capacity at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology by establishing research capabilities in water resources and remote sensing and strengthening graduate coursework and training opportunities for students. The scope of this project is to quantify the effects of light-absorbing particles (LAP; mineral dust and black carbon) on snowmelt acceleration and snow drought across the Western United States. The project will evaluate how a snowpack model enhanced with snow microphysics and LAP mass-balance schemes reproduces observed snow darkening across the Western U.S. Snowpack observations from remote sensing sources will be assimilated using the NASA land information system (LIS) to produce a regional snowpack reanalysis. Model and data will then be leveraged to investigate how LAP deposition increases frequency and severity of snow droughts, developing a resilience index identifying the most vulnerable Western U.S. watersheds. Resulting datasets will be made available to the public and to regional water stakeholders. The project will expand research capabilities at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and provide student training in data assimilation, remote sensing, and hydrological modeling. This project is supported by the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: EPSCoR Research Fellows (ERF). The ERF program supports early- and mid-career investigators in eligible jurisdictions to develop collaborations at the nation’s private, government or academic research institutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.