$2 mil. grant awarded UC Merced to study Sierra snowpack
By Mark Grossi, Fresno Bee
Researchers from UC Merced were awarded a $2 million federal grant to develop a revolutionary network for tracking the Sierra snowpack as the climate warms.
The National Science Foundation money will support a four-year project to install a massive web of wireless sensors in the 2,000-square-mile American River Basin in the Sierra northeast of Sacramento.
The network will give water managers precise information to predict snowmelt, a main source of water for millions of residents and the $35 billion farming industry. The data will become more important as the snowpack retreats to higher ground in a warming climate.
The research team is led by UC Merced professor Roger Bales, director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, and UC Berkeley professor Steven Glaser. For several years, the team has been experimenting with the technology around Shaver Lake in Fresno County and the American River.