Resources

Designed to serve as a central hub for the Colorado River science community, the Colorado River Science Wiki hosts a repository of new research and science information pertinent to the River, an overview of relevant legal and political frameworks, and a page highlighting upcoming events, conferences, and meetings focused on Colorado River research.

It's surprisingly hard to say exactly how much water trapped in the Rocky Mountain snowpack will actually reach the Colorado River in a given year. In this report for NPR's Morning Edition, KUNC's Alex Hager explores how Sublimation of Snow Project scientists are looking for ways to help people downstream know how much water to expect.

KUNC Colorado reporter Alex Hager followed the Sublimation of Snow Project team in the mountains above Crested Butte, Colorado, as they dug for clues to how much Rocky Mountain snow disappears into the air before it has a chance to melt and reach the Colorado River.

A University of Washington project, aided by the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, leverages a rare confluence of collaborators to study snow sublimation.

In this piece for Yale Climate Connections, AGCI Climate Science Fellows Tanya Petach & Emilio Mateo review how scientists are bridging the research-practice boundary to lessen the pain of climate change and the 23-year megadrought it has fueled in the Colorado River basin

In January 2023, the Sublimation of Snow project team skied out to our field site at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory for an Intensive Observation Period – a chance to validate instrument readings, align data approaches, and connect with the landscape and weather of this remarkable research location.

Wildfires, which have intensified with climate change, can contaminate drinking water supplies after a heavy rain. AGCI's Tanya Petach and Energy Innovation's Alex Urquhart examine wildfires' long-term impacts on water quality and the need for fire-resilient water systems in this piece for Yale Climate Connections.

As the Colorado River Compact is renegotiated, scientists are critically examining historical research on the river’s flow to ensure water users across the western United States and Mexico have the information they need to prepare for a future where drought is the norm.

Field notes on the October 2022 install and reflections from the Sublimation of Snow Project Principal Investigator Jessica Lundquist.

A single snowflake hadn’t yet fallen when a team of snow researchers descended on a small town in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains this past fall. But that was intentional — they were preparing for the coming winter’s mission to answer a longstanding research question: What happens to snow after it falls?