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Non-Reimbursable Application - CWCB Construction Fund Form Revised June 2006 3. Provide a brief description of your organization below: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a federal science agency, which serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to: describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life. The USGS Colorado Water Science Center is responsible for USGS water- related activities in Colorado. 'art B. -Description of the Project or Study 1. Name of the study or project: USGS High-Resolution Gridded Sublimation Estimates 2. 3 4 What is the purpose of this grant application? Check one. X Study Demonstration project. Rehabilitation ar- replacement of existing Other (Please describe) General location of the study or demonstration project. (Please include county, and approximate distance and direction from the nearest town): Study sites will include two watersheds in the northern Front Range of Colorado; one basin will be in the headwaters of the Colorado River on the west side of the Continental Divide in Grand County, and the other basin will be in the headwaters of the South Platte River on the east side of the Continental Divide in Larimer County. The study watersheds are within 10 to 40 miles of Estes Park. Please provide a brief narrative description of the proposed study or demonstration project including purpose, need, and service area. (Attach scope of study, if available) Sublimation in seasonally-snow covered catchments can have a large effect on water availability, particularly in years of drought. Current estimates of sublimation have high uncertainty because they are developed from models that use coarse observational networks, with few sites at high elevation. Applicability of sublimation calculated at those sites to alpine areas is highly uncertain. The USGS proposes a pilot study for the northern Front Range of Colorado, in which aloes-cost meteorological network covering mid- to high-elevations would be installed and used to calculate spatially-distributed sublimation. Data will be used to develop high-resolution, gridded estimates of sublimation for the study area in near-real time. The estimates will be compared to sublimation estimates used in water- supply forecast models to determine the accuracy of those sublimation estimates. 2