 |
|
NASA uses satellite to unearth innovation in crop forecasting
May 27, 2009Soil moisture is essential for seeds to germinate and for crops to grow. But record droughts and scorching temperatures in certain parts of the globe in recent years have caused soil to dry up, crippling crop production. The falling food supply in some regions has forced prices upward, pushing staple foods out of reach for millions of poor people.
NASA researchers are using satellite data to deliver a kind of space-based humanitarian assistance. They are cultivating the most accurate estimates of soil moisture - the main determinant of crop yield changes - and improving global forecasts of how well food will grow at a time when the world is confronting shortages.
During a presentation this week at the the Joint Assembly of the American Geophysical Union in Toronto, NASA scientist John Bolten described a new modeling product that uses data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite to improve the accuracy of West African soil moisture. The group produced assessments of current soil moisture conditions, or "nowcasts," and improved estimates by 5 percent over previous methods. Though seemingly small and incremental, the increase can make a big difference in the precision of crop forecasts, Bolten said.
The modeling innovation comes at a time when crop analysts at agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are working to meet the food shortage problem head on. They combine soil moisture estimates with weather trends to produce up-to-date forecasts of crop harvests. Those estimates help regional and national officials prepare for and prevent food crises.
"The USDA's estimates of global crop yields are an objective, timely benchmark of food availability and help drive international commodity markets," said Bolten, a physical scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "But crop estimates are only as good as the observations available to drive the models."
Crop analysts must estimate root-zone soil moisture, the amount of water beneath the surface available for plants to absorb. But estimating the amount of water in soil has posed challenges. Ground-level sensors for rainfall and temperature -- the two key elements for estimating soil moisture - are often sparsely located in the developing nations that need them the most. Hard-to-reach terrain like mountains or desert, lack of local cooperation as well as high maintenance costs, can lead to sensors more than 500 miles apart.
Under a new NASA-USDA collaboration known as the Global Agriculture Monitoring Project, Bolten and colleagues from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service are using AMSR-E to fill the data gaps with daily soil moisture "snapshots." Since its launch in 2002, the instrument has "seen" through clouds, and light vegetation like crops and grasses to detect the amount of soil moisture beneath Earth's surface.
AMSR-E uses varying frequencies to detect the amount of emitted electromagnetic radiation from the Earth's surface. Within the microwave spectrum, this radiation is closely related to the amount of water that is in the soil, allowing researchers to remotely sense the amount of water in the soil across any geographic landscape.
Following a test of their system over the United States, Bolten's team tracked West African rainfall, temperature, and model assessments of soil moisture with and without the AMSR-E satellite sensor observations. They used West Africa as a model because the landscape provides varying cover, from desert and semi-arid landscape in the north to grasslands, lush forests, and crop land to the south. Rainfall in the region is highly variable yet sparsely monitored by ground-based sensors. They also targeted West Africa to demonstrate the possibility for improving the assessment of drought-caused food shortages on the region's dense population.
"Many developing countries are relying on limited and highly variable water resources," said Bolten. "And typically those same regions don't have adequate ground station data or crop-estimating agencies capable of making reliable production forecasts."
By definition, the severity of agricultural drought is determined by root-zone soil water content. So Bolten's satellite-driven boost to root-zone soil moisture prediction also directly improves drought monitoring. And Bolten says results from AMSR-E are just a precursor to dramatic new improvements in data and prediction accuracy researchers expect from the Soil Moisture Active and Passive satellite, slated to launch in 2013.
Food reserves are at their lowest level in 30 years, according to the United Nations World Food Program, putting the world's 1 billion poorest people most at risk. Prices for wheat, rice, and corn have more than doubled in the last 24 months, hitting countries like Haiti, Bangladesh, and Burkina Faso the hardest. And the U.S. is not unaffected -- drought in 2008 led to an estimated $1.1 billion in crop losses in Texas alone.
"This advance is making it possible for us to do our job in a more precise way," said Curt Reynolds, a crop analyst for the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service in Washington. "We plan to make NASA's soil moisture information available to commodity markets, traders, agricultural producers, and policymakers through our Crop Explorer Web site."
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
The modeling innovation comes at a time when crop analysts at agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are working to meet the food shortage problem head on. They combine soil moisture estimates with weather trends to produce up-to-date forecasts of crop harvests. Those estimates help regional and national officials prepare for and prevent food crises.
"The USDA's estimates of global crop yields are an objective, timely benchmark of food availability and help drive international commodity markets," said Bolten, a physical scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "But crop estimates are only as good as the observations available to drive the models."
Crop analysts must estimate root-zone soil moisture, the amount of water beneath the surface available for plants to absorb. But estimating the amount of water in soil has posed challenges. Ground-level sensors for rainfall and temperature -- the two key elements for estimating soil moisture - are often sparsely located in the developing nations that need them the most. Hard-to-reach terrain like mountains or desert, lack of local cooperation as well as high maintenance costs, can lead to sensors more than 500 miles apart.
Under a new NASA-USDA collaboration known as the Global Agriculture Monitoring Project, Bolten and colleagues from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service are using AMSR-E to fill the data gaps with daily soil moisture "snapshots." Since its launch in 2002, the instrument has "seen" through clouds, and light vegetation like crops and grasses to detect the amount of soil moisture beneath Earth's surface.
AMSR-E uses varying frequencies to detect the amount of emitted electromagnetic radiation from the Earth's surface. Within the microwave spectrum, this radiation is closely related to the amount of water that is in the soil, allowing researchers to remotely sense the amount of water in the soil across any geographic landscape.
Following a test of their system over the United States, Bolten's team tracked West African rainfall, temperature, and model assessments of soil moisture with and without the AMSR-E satellite sensor observations. They used West Africa as a model because the landscape provides varying cover, from desert and semi-arid landscape in the north to grasslands, lush forests, and crop land to the south. Rainfall in the region is highly variable yet sparsely monitored by ground-based sensors. They also targeted West Africa to demonstrate the possibility for improving the assessment of drought-caused food shortages on the region's dense population.
"Many developing countries are relying on limited and highly variable water resources," said Bolten. "And typically those same regions don't have adequate ground station data or crop-estimating agencies capable of making reliable production forecasts."
By definition, the severity of agricultural drought is determined by root-zone soil water content. So Bolten's satellite-driven boost to root-zone soil moisture prediction also directly improves drought monitoring. And Bolten says results from AMSR-E are just a precursor to dramatic new improvements in data and prediction accuracy researchers expect from the Soil Moisture Active and Passive satellite, slated to launch in 2013.
Food reserves are at their lowest level in 30 years, according to the United Nations World Food Program, putting the world's 1 billion poorest people most at risk. Prices for wheat, rice, and corn have more than doubled in the last 24 months, hitting countries like Haiti, Bangladesh, and Burkina Faso the hardest. And the U.S. is not unaffected -- drought in 2008 led to an estimated $1.1 billion in crop losses in Texas alone.
"This advance is making it possible for us to do our job in a more precise way," said Curt Reynolds, a crop analyst for the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service in Washington. "We plan to make NASA's soil moisture information available to commodity markets, traders, agricultural producers, and policymakers through our Crop Explorer Web site."
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Soil Moisture Current Events and Soil Moisture News RSSSoil moisture and ocean salinity satellite ready for launch
A new European Earth observation satellite will be launched in the early hours of Monday morning (2 November 2009) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
Final look at ESA's SMOS and Proba-2 satellites
As preparations for the launch of SMOS and Proba-2 continue on schedule, the engineers and technicians at the Russian launch site say goodbye as both satellites are encapsulated within the half-shells of the Rockot fairing.
Satellites unlock secret to northern India's vanishing water
Using NASA satellite data, scientists have found that groundwater levels in northern India have been declining by as much as one foot per year over the past decade. Researchers concluded the loss is almost entirely due to human activity.
Dry autumns and winters may lead to fewer tornadoes in the spring, says UGA researcher
Global warming will likely mean more unpredictable weather, scientists say, and a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia pins down, possibly for the first time, how drought conditions in an area's fall and winter may effect tornado activity the following spring.
Rainforest rehab in every sense
Sophisticated sensors that measure leaf wetness, soil moisture and temperature are helping rehabilitate rainforest in the Springbrook World Heritage precinct in south-east Queensland.
Drought, urbanization were ingredients for Atlanta's perfect storm
On March 14, 2008, a tornado swept through downtown Atlanta, its 130 mile-per-hour winds ripping holes in the roof of the Georgia Dome, blowing out office windows, and trashing parts of Centennial Olympic Park.
Long-term study of orchard ground cover management systems
Orchard floor and groundcover management is important to fruit growers, affecting the efficiency of orchard operations, fruit tree performance, and soil quality.
Protecting wine grapes from heat and drought
Deficit irrigation is an agricultural technique used to achieve a variety of results depending on the crop. For white wine grapes, it balances the crop load by limiting the canopy size so there aren't too many leaves shading the grapes.
Iowa State researchers developing wireless soil sensors to improve farming
Ratnesh Kumar keeps his prototype soil sensors buried in a box under his desk. He hopes that one day farmers will be burying the devices under their crops.
Water table depth tied to droughts
Will there be another "dust bowl" in the Great Plains similar to the one that swept the region in the 1930s?
More Soil Moisture Current Events and Soil Moisture News Articles
 |
Luster Leaf 1820 Rapitest Soil Moisture Meter by Luster Leaf Rapitest, Moisture Meter, With Probe On Flexible Cord, Instantly Tells You When To Water Plants, & Prevents Over Underwatering Of Your Plants. |
 |
Luster Leaf 1810 Rapitest Mini Soil Moisture Meter by Luster Leaf Rapitest, Mini Moisture Tester, Instantly Tells You When To Water Plants, Prevents Over Watering, Ideal For Plants Grown In Window Boxes, Hanging Baskets & Growbags. |
 |
Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics by Daniel Hillel (Author) An abridged, student-oriented edition of Hillel's earlier published Environmental Soil Physics, this is a more succinct elucidation of the physical principles and processes governing the behavior of soil and the vital role it plays in both natural and managed ecosystems. The textbook is self-contained and self-explanatory, with numerous illustrations and sample problems. Based on sound fundamental theory, the textbook leads to a practical consideration of soil as a living system in nature and illustrates the influences of human activity upon soil structure and function. Students, as well as other readers, will better understand the importance of soils and the pivotal possition they occupy with respect to careful and knowledgeable conservation. ... |
 |
Control Wizard Accurate pH8 Soil pH & Moisture Meter by Thermo Fisher Scientific Professional pH and Moisture Meter with 12" probe. Operation is simple. Clean the electrodes and place the meter into the soil. A pH reading is automatically displayed. Press rthe white button and a moisture reading is displayed. It works by utilizing the electronic ground filed effect of the earth and two dissimilar metals. No batteries are required. 1 year limited warranty. |
 |
MOISTURE PLUS SOIL MIX 1CF by SCHULTZ SOILS(D) Store over 200 times their weightin water and slowly releases it to plants as needed. Reduces watering frequency. Specially formulated to help protect container plants from poor watering practices. Schultz Moist Plus Mix 1Cf 1 Cubic ' |
|
Light and Moisture Meter;Meter, Soil Moisture by Luster Leaf Products Meter, Soil Moisture; Rapitest; Chromatic filter; Instant measurements; No batteries required | |
 |
Bond 9629 3 Way Garden Soil Meter (Moisture, Light, pH) by Bond Moisture meter to detect amount of moisture in the soil. No batteries required. Accurate and easy to use. Plastic, Metal. |
 |
New Pro Digital Moisture Meter w/ Probe Crops Grain Wheat Corn Powder Tester by Yescom Features: Wide Range:8-20% of Moisture -10-55 degrees centigrade of Temperature Come with a high quality Probe with 2 stainless lanceolate measurers LCD display for exact reading Compact, light-weight and easy operation Applicable to the test of packed grains, food-stuff and feed-stuff High quality components with durable ABS-plastic housing to ensure maintenance free performance Specially shaped housing to fit comfortably in either hand Notice: This instrument is of very high input resistance. Every part has good insulation. Please keep it in a dry, dustproof place. Specifications: LCD Display: 4 digits, 10mm LCD Moisture Content Range: 8 ~ 20% Temperature Range: -10 ~ 55 degrees centigrade (14 ~ 131... |
 |
Moisture Plus Pottng Mix - 8 Quart by Country Stone Moisture plus watering crystals store over 200 times their weight in water and slowly releases it to plants as needed. Reduces watering frequency. Specially formulated to help protect container plants from poor watering practices. Enriched with schultz extended release plant food that feeds up to 9 months. Ingredients: Premium Blend Of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, Perlite, & Organic Materials Enriched Plant Food. |
 |
Luster Leaf Rapitest Mini Soil pH/Moisture Tester #1817 by Luster Leaf The Rapitest® Mini pH/Moisture Tester is an economical way to determine the pH level in your soil and also the moisture content. Instantly gives you the acidity of the soil which enables you to alter the soil conditions for optimum growing conditions. Instantly tells you when to water your plants. Instructions are included with each Mini pH/Moisture Tester for flowers, shrubs and vegetable plants and the watering needs for over 100 plants. No battery required. Please visit us, gardenharvestsupply |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |