U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydraulic engineers are monitoring water levels in the New England region’s major rivers and the depth of snow cover throughout the region to regulate Corps dams and to minimize downstream impacts from the district headquarters in Concord, Mass.

They are using field reports as well as data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). The New England District has been using as its data collection satellite the GOES-08 (also known as GOES east), which was launched in April 1994 with advanced weather imagery. The district data collection platforms monitor pool, tailwater and river levels, rainfall, and air temperature, recording data every 15 minutes.

By collecting information about river stages and flows and their increases and decreases from 90 data collection platforms over time, the hydrologists can effectively regulate the Corps dams to minimize impacts downstream.