NASA to Discuss Earth Science Help for California Drought

NASA officials will participate in a media briefing at 9:30 a.m. PST Tuesday, Feb. 25 about the agency’s work to use its Earth observation assets to help the state of California better manage its water resources and monitor and respond to its ongoing drought.

The briefing will be held at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento.

Audio of the event will be streamed live at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

At 11:15 a.m. PST on Tuesday, NASA scientists will be available to respond to questions from the public via social media using the hashtag #askNASA.

Following two consecutive years of drought conditions, 2014 is shaping up to be one of California’s driest years on record. In January, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. declared a Drought State of Emergency outlining specific responses to the critically dry conditions. NASA and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) are collaborating to apply NASA’s unique satellite and airborne remote sensing resources and research to the drought’s challenges.

The briefing participants are:

— Jeanine Jones, Interstate Water Resources Manager, DWR, Sacramento
— Lawrence Friedl, director, Applied Sciences Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
— Forrest Melton, senior research scientist with the Cooperative for Research in Earth Science and Technology, NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
— Tom Painter, principal investigator, Airborne Snow Observatory, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL),
— Tom Farr, geologist, JPL
— Duane Waliser, chief scientist, Earth Science and Technology Directorate, JPL

NASA monitors Earth’s vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet.

A link to relevant graphics will be posted at the start of the briefing at: http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities in 2014, also visit: http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow