{"id":4681,"date":"2020-04-02T12:25:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T11:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=4681"},"modified":"2020-04-03T06:29:19","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T05:29:19","slug":"introducing-a-newly-launched-drought-monitoring-and-forecast-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/introducing-a-newly-launched-drought-monitoring-and-forecast-programme\/4681\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing a newly launched drought monitoring and forecast programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA satellites have been used to detect the minuscule gravitational changes caused by the movement of Earth\u2019s water.<\/h2>\n

Two centres located in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources<\/a> used information from the NASA\u2019s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment<\/a> (GRACE) satellites to produce and share groundbreaking maps of topsoil, root zone soil and groundwater moisture around the world, as well as 30, 60 and 90-day forecasts of wet and dry conditions across the United States.<\/p>\n

Brian Wardlow, director of UNL\u2019s Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT), concluded that the snapshots of conditions in deep aquifers have no remote sensing equivalent.<\/p>\n

“This is the culmination of almost a decade-long partnership with NASA scientists to develop remote sensing-based monitoring tools and now forecasts for both the national and global drought monitoring community,” Wardlow said.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 https:\/\/nasagrace.unl.edu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Providing information to drought monitors<\/h3>\n

“The idea of getting improved information on soil moisture conditions has always been a critical area of need (for drought monitoring),\u201d said Wardlow, the principle investigator on the projects.<\/p>\n

Wardlow continued, \u201cthat’s always been one of the Holy Grails of remote sensing or drought monitoring. That’s always been a key information gap. What make this more unique is it’s the only remote sensing drought indicator approach that also assesses groundwater. This is really a first of its kind.”<\/p>\n

This new map could inform drought monitoring operations globally whilst also allowing governments sufficiently prepare for future drought events.<\/p>\n