Satellite promises more accurate weather predictions
Forget Punxsutawney Phil, NASA recently launched a new satellite to get its own — more accurate — weather predictions.
The Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite will measure soil moisture levels over a three-year period and report back data every two to three days. But why is soil moisture important and how does it effect weather and climate conditions? NASA put it best.
"The amount of water that evaporates from the land surface into the atmosphere depends on the soil moisture. Soil moisture information is key to understanding the flows of water and heat energy between the surface and atmosphere that impact weather and climate," NASA said.
In addition to improving weather forecasts, SMAP will help monitor droughts, predict floods, assist crop productivity and detail water, energy and carbon cycles.
The new satellite is just one example of how the U.S. government is investing in technologies to make more accurate weather predictions that can provide forecasts further in advance.
That's key since the World Meteorological Organization said in a report last year that better understanding of when and where a storm might hit enhances safety.
Knowledge about soil moisture levels remains poor and often it's not even considered in discussions about weather or climate. Yet, soil is intrinsically linked to our ecosystem. The earth loses about 1% of its topsoil ever year, and regeneration takes 200 to a million years — think about that next time you kick up some dirt.
The new satellite "permits changes around the world to be observed over time scales ranging from major storms to repeated measurements of changes over the seasons," NASA said.
SMAP will provide the highest-resolution, most accurate soil moisture maps ever obtained from space using a "remote sensing observatory" that determines the freeze or thaw state of the areas being mapped.
Learning where and when soil moisture travels will help track precipitation. Water evaporates from the oceans to form clouds. When it rains or snows, this precipitation deposits water back onto land, which flows via rivers, streams and drains into the ocean. A small percentage remains in the soil, buried in a glacier or trapped in an aquifer, until it is released again via transpiration, snow melt or, perhaps, your sprinkler system.
"SMAP will improve the daily lives of people around the world," Simon Yueh, SMAP project scientist, said in a statement. "Soil moisture data from SMAP has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of short-term weather forecasts and reduce the uncertainty of long-term projections of how climate change will impact Earth's water cycle."
In the meantime, you can take steps to mind the ground beneath your feet and the moisture in it that could whip into a storm or evaporate in a drought.
• Dead spots on your lawn corrupt soil healthiness. So remove any stationary objects you may have out in the yard during winter.
• Keep your sidewalks and walkways clear of ice and snow. This will deter you and others from traipsing across the front lawn instead.
• Mind plowing and shoveling your lawn's edges. This can destroy grass and soil.
• Rake dead leaves away and fertilize your grass (if you haven't already). This allows nutrients to remain in the soil during winter and rejuvenate before spring and summer growing seasons.
Thomas M. Kostigen is the founder of TheClimateSurvivalist.com and a New York Times best-selling author and journalist. He is the National Geographic author of "The Extreme Weather Survival Guide: Understand, Prepare, Survive, Recover" and the NG Kids book "Extreme Weather: Surviving Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Hailstorms, Thundersnow, Hurricanes and More!" Follow him @weathersurvival, or e-mail kostigen@theclimatesurvivalist.com
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