Overview | Summary | When and Where | Report | Agenda | Presentations
During this three-day meeting, the goal of this event was to:
The 2024 NASA Western Water Applications Office (WWAO) Annual Meeting took place April 30 to May 2, 2024, at the Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community (SEEC) on the University of Colorado’s East Campus in Boulder, CO. The meeting was hosted by Dr. Karl Rittger, a Research Associate with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (InSTAAR) at the University.
The mission of the WWAO is to support a resilient and sustainable water future in the western United States for people, the environment and the economy. WWAO achieves its mission by working closely with its community to co-develop solutions that apply NASA science, data and technology to challenges in the west.
The WWAO community is made up of water management practitioners from federal, state, local, academic, and private sector organizations, the NASA research community including scientists and data scientists, relevant NASA Earth Action Initiatives, and NASA Earth science missions. The annual meeting is an opportunity to bring together this diverse group for knowledge exchange through a dialogue on the common topic of science informed decision making for water resources in the western US.
Meeting sessions for the 2024 gathering were intended to promote a conversation around water management challenges and needs in the west, lessons learned and impacts of previous WWAO projects, updates and highlights of NASA’s Earth Action and Water Resources Programs, new WWAO projects, private sector perspectives, and information on upcoming NASA missions.
Panels provided discussions around local and regional practitioner perspectives across the U.S. west; science to operations successes, challenges, best practices, and opportunities; private and NGO perspectives to identify new pathways to expand the use of NASA capabilities in the realm of western water; and a discussion around data accessibility and useability.
The meeting was an opportunity to highlight new and upcoming NASA Missions to the diverse audience. Missions highlighted included the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, the NASA and ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, the upcoming Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), the Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, and the upcoming Landsat Next mission.
A closing discussion around emerging needs, opportunities and challenges ended the meeting. The discussion emphasized the value and potential of NASA Earth Observations for water management to create a sustainable water supply in a changing climate, the importance of partnerships to achieve impacts, and the value of equitable access to NASA data.
Date: April 30 – May 2, 2024
Location: University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
Room(s): Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community (SEEC) Auditorium C120
Coming Soon
The WWAO Annual meeting agenda is here. The meeting spanned over three days, with half-day sessions on day 3. A social event followed the end of the session on day 1.
Welcome and Updates
Panel Discussion: WWAO Project Impacts
Colorado River Basin Projects & Impacts
Colombia River Basin Projects & Impacts
Introduction to Rio Grande River Basin Projects
NASA Earth Action Initiatives: Food, Fire, Biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples
Basin Practitioner Insights: Local and Regional Perspectives
Panel Discussion: Science to Operation
Panel Discussion: Private and NGO Sector Perspectives
Special Topic: Spotlight on New and Upcoming NASA Missions Relevant for Water Resources
Improving Data Accessibility and Insight: Drought Risk and Resilience Planning platform, WaDE, SPoRT, Hydrology Testbed, OpenET
