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Space satellite will help in the fight against drought

13.10.2014

In January 2015, NASA plans to launch the SMAP (The Soil Moisture Active-Passive) satellite, with which it will be possible to monitor soil moisture over large areas and in various parts of the planet. This information, according to the developers, will be unprecedentedly accurate and detailed. In addition, changes in the state of the soil can be observed literally in real time - the satellite will update information at least once every two to three days.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this project for various services, and above all for agriculture, which suffers significant losses due to the lack of information about the real state of the soil and the inability to predict changes in its moisture content. Traditional methods of estimating soil moisture using sensors, based on point measurements in individual areas, are laborious and expensive. In addition, they do not provide sufficient measurement accuracy, and when extrapolating their readings to large areas, one has to deal with noticeable errors.

The satellite will be launched into a circumpolar sun-synchronous orbit 680 km above the Earth's surface. This location of the satellite makes it possible to conduct regular observations of the soil in almost all regions of the earth's surface. The high-precision microwave control devices installed on board the satellite - a radar and a radiometer operating in the L-band - allow continuous scanning of the upper soil layers to a depth of about 5 cm and with a resolution of about 50 km.

With the help of SMAP, we will get a global picture of the current state of soil moisture in various parts of the globe (and especially in agricultural areas, especially those prone to periodic droughts) and will be able to make reliable forecasts regarding floods and droughts. Dr. Narendra Das, head of NASA's SMAP Science Team, said, "Rainfed crop farmers will know soil moisture levels and be able to plan plantings while getting high yields... The satellite will help predict droughts in different regions; these data will make it possible to plan the resumption of agricultural work after adverse climatic periods."

The information received from the satellite will, of course, be useful not only in agriculture. It will create more accurate weather and climate maps of our planet. The accumulated data will help to better understand and study water, energy and carbon cycles and better understand the complex global processes taking place on Earth.

The planned duration of the SMAP mission is 3 years.

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