 They also studied the correlation between the observed variability in Western US snowpack accumulation and atmospheric circulation in historical measurement data and developed temperature-snowfall correlations based on first principles and observation in order to improve the global radiation balance estimation used in climate change predictions.Legates also developed a calibration method which validates NEXRAD radar precipitation data with gauge measurements to improve the accuracy of precipitation estimates.Legates and his coworkers extended their research to the development of correlations between satellite crop imaging data and landscape change, crop type and its evolution, and their effects of global climate change.