California's water fortune is told at Gin Flat

In deep winter, water scientist Frank Gehrke straps on his cross-country skis and trudges uphill in the thin, cold air to one of the most closely monitored frozen meadows on the continent, 7,200 feet above sea level in the Sierra Nevada.

To understand why his arduous, breath-sucking hike is important, stand still and listen to the snow. In the pale morning sun, the forest of pine and cedar comes alive with sound. Clumps of fresh powder fall with a thud or drip-drop from tree tops, quickening with the staccato of popping corn.

This place is like a Rosetta Stone for California's water supply. It's where the convergence of snow, sun and temperature enables scientists to predict floods or drought. It's where they have installed sophisticated equipment to help understand how climate change is altering snow melt in the Sierra, a source of water for millions of Californians.

"Gin Flat's always been the place where we try things and invest first," said Michael D. Dettinger, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.

Although the state oversees more than 300 survey sites, what makes Gin Flat unique is its location, an elevation in Yosemite National Park just above the point where rain commonly turns to snow. That makes it an ideal spot to test the premise that a warming climate will produce more rain at higher elevations -- a shift that would bring more flooding and less snowpack to fill California reservoirs in mid-summer.

These days, with water woes plaguing the state, readings at Gin Flat will ultimately help determine how much more it could cost Californians to drink a glass of water or take a shower, or if they can water lawns without restrictions.


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