How much fresh water is stored in snowpack?

How much fresh water is stored in snowpack? Today’s Video of the Day comes from NASA Goddard and features a look at how researchers determine how much of our water supply is stored in snow.

A new 5-year study called SnowEx is set in Colorado and focused on improving methods to measure how much frozen water is stored in snow across the globe. The process is complicated by the various different depths and densities of different terrains and forests.

Using a variety of sensors for different environments, the results will help form a more accurate picture of the global water supply. As for the rest, approximately 1.7% is stored in the polar icecaps, glaciers, and permanent snow, and another 1.7% is stored in groundwater, lakes, rivers, streams, and soil. Only a thousandth of 1% of the water on Earth exists as water vapor in the atmosphere. How much water is frozen in glaciers?

The U. S. Department of Agriculture and other collaborators have measured snowpack since the early 1900s. In the early years of data collection, researchers measured snow water equivalent manually, but since 1980, measurements at some locations have been collected with automated instruments as part of the snow telemetry (SNOTEL) network. How much fresh water is stored in snowpack? as shown above in video will show you the exact amount stored.

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By Rory Arnold, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: NASA Goddard