{"id":1319860,"date":"2020-05-10T17:56:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T23:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/"},"modified":"2020-05-10T17:56:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-10T23:56:01","slug":"how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/","title":{"rendered":"How much of Aspen\u2019s snowpack will make it to the rivers? Soil moisture holds a key"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.493860845839\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-996321-684\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled gallery-container\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1024x682.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times | Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague resets the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10.576923076923\">\n<p><strong>Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague resets the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<br \/><a class=\"buy-link\" href=\"http:\/\/postindependent.mycapture.com\/mycapture\/remoteimage.asp?backtext=Return+to+PostIndependent.com&amp;backurl=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/&amp;image=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1024x682.jpg&amp;notes=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1.jpg\"> Buy Photo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1024x682.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague resets the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1-1024x689.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times | Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague skins to the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10.580508474576\">\n<p><strong>Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague skins to the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<br \/><a class=\"buy-link\" href=\"http:\/\/postindependent.mycapture.com\/mycapture\/remoteimage.asp?backtext=Return+to+PostIndependent.com&amp;backurl=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/&amp;image=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1-1024x689.jpg&amp;notes=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1.jpg\"> Buy Photo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-1-1024x689.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague skins to the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-2-1024x682.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times | Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague resets the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10.576923076923\">\n<p><strong>Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague resets the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<br \/><a class=\"buy-link\" href=\"http:\/\/postindependent.mycapture.com\/mycapture\/remoteimage.asp?backtext=Return+to+PostIndependent.com&amp;backurl=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/&amp;image=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-2-1024x682.jpg&amp;notes=https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-2.jpg\"> Buy Photo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/weatherstation-atd-051020-1-2-1024x682.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague resets the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Warm temperatures and dry winds took a big bite out of a snowpack that was sitting pretty just 10 days ago but now is at risk of disappearing ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That creates the potential to create an early peak runoff for rivers and leave the mountains surrounding Aspen high and dry later in the summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The snowpack was 103 % of median at the headwaters of the Roaring Fork River east of Aspen on April 30. By May 7, it dropped to 81%, according to the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service\u2019s automated snow telemetry site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Aspen Global Change Institute is keeping a close eye on conditions with 10 field stations placed strategically around the mainstream of the Roaring Fork. Unlike the Snotel sites, the institute\u2019s stations monitor soil moisture at 2, 8 and 20 inches below the surface.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Soil moisture isn\u2019t often used for modeling in hydrology, but it can play a big role in how much of the Elk Mountain snowpack makes it to the rivers and streams \u2014 and ultimately to irrigation ditches and fields.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt can help us determine how much of the snow is going to turn into streamflow,\u201d said Elise Osenga, community science manager for Aspen Global Change Institute. \u201cSnowpack absolutely matters, but it\u2019s not the only thing that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For example, an abnormally warm and dry late winter and spring 2018 resulted in the snowpack melting out three weeks earlier than 2013-17, Osenga said. 2013 is the first year that the climate stations were operating so historical data is limited.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">During the 2018-19 winter, snowpack was cruising along at about average until the snow spigot was turned on in early March and continued well into April. The snowpack melted out later than average, hanging on into July in higher elevations. That created high soil moisture levels generally around the valley, but dry conditions during the summer and into fall depleted the levels heading into winter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">AGCI researchers will watch how that lower soil moisture affects runoff from this spring\u2019s snowpack and the resulting streamflow levels. The more water absorbed by the dry ground, the less that makes it to rivers and streams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The field stations range from 6,200 feet near Glenwood Springs to 12,080 feet near the summit of Independence Pass. Two stations were placed in Northstar Nature Preserve, with its special ecosystem that includes aspen groves and meadows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Collectively, the field stations are known as the Interactive Roaring Fork Observation Network or iRON.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Osenga said the field stations came about as part of a collective community concern. Officials with the city of Aspen and Pitkin County are concerned about how climate change could affect the forests in the upper Roaring Fork Valley. AGCI is helping them by tracking soil moisture as well as soil and air temperatures and precipitation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe long-term goal really is a community-driven goal,\u201d said<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Data from most of the sites is collected every 20 minutes and transmitted every four hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If there is a change of the health of the Aspen area\u2019s forests, Osenga said, AGCI and its partners will be able to look at the field of data and analyze what happened and when. It\u2019s like tracking an on-going mystery, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of goal that will take a couple of decades to determine because we\u2019re looking for trends,\u201d Osenga said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Independence Pass station was added in 2016 and will provide data on how climate change is affecting the highest elevations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe knew we wanted something 12,000 feet or higher,\u201d Osenga said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Another nonprofit organization, Independence Pass Foundation, helped fund the station, which was placed on a mining claim held by Pitkin County. The station looks like an old TV antenna sticking out of ground covered in alpine willows just west of the summit. The site gets blasted by wind, buried by snow and threatened by lightning strikes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s a tricky site. It\u2019s really exposed,\u201d Osenga said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The station stopped transmitting data via satellite April 24, so Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague skied up to it from Upper Lost Man on Tuesday to hit the reset button. Unfortunately, it didn\u2019t take. Osenga said the system will automatically reset in a few more days and hopefully transmit the data is stored.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The site is particularly valuable because it is the only station in iRON that measures snow depth. As of April 24, it measured 61 inches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Soil moisture and temperatures at Independence Pass will be closely monitored to see if higher temperatures and lower moisture leads to a change in the type of plants growing there. A warming climate could endanger vegetation at the highest climates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThey don\u2019t have somewhere else to move up to,\u201d Osenga said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">AGCI also tracks the types of plants and when plants bloom on a 100-square-meter plot of ground on Independence Pass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As with the entire iRON network, the data is not only designed to provide data long-term to researchers but also provide real-time useful information to public land managers and water managers, particularly through soil moisture levels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhat\u2019s that mean for ecology and water supplies?\u201d Osenga said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">More on AGCI\u2019s field stations and the data can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agci.org\/iron\/stations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.agci.org\/iron\/stations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:scondon@aspentimes.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/how-much-of-aspens-snowpack-will-make-it-to-the-rivers-soil-moisture-holds-a-key\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague resets the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times Buy Photo Independence Pass Foundation executive director Karin Teague skins to the weather monitoring station near the summit of Independence Pass on Tuesday, May 5, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 10:13:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}