America's space agency wants you to head for the mountains with a smartphone and a measuring stick.
NASA's earth science arm is funding research that recruits citizen scientists on skis, snowshoes and snowmobiles to measure the depth of snow in backcountry locations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
Their measurements will be incorporated into computer models that calculate how much water will end up in the region's rivers and reservoirs.
Early results have been promising.
"Our initial model runs show that citizen science measurements are doing an amazing job of improving our simulations," said David Hill, an Oregon State University professor of civil engineering, who is collaborating with Alaska and University of Washington researchers. They received one of 16 NASA citizen science grants for the project.
Be sure to ski in a grid pattern.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday January 06 2018, @06:08PM
I see that you are unfamiliar with how it works in academia. Professors are paid great, everyone below them are paid peanuts and are almost like indentured servants. Why pay you to do something when you can get some ph.d-slave to do your heavy lifting or a research assistant or a teaching assistant or someone in Alaska that likes to be out in the snow to make the work even cheaper.