Earth  ID: 12026

Tracking Agricultural Water Use from Space

Released on October 15, 2015
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Water managers in 15 states accross the U.S. use METRIC technology to monitor and track agricultural water consumption. Nebraksa has 23 natural resource districts and more than 10 major river basins, making this satellite-based technology a critical part of managing water resources.

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Water managers in 15 states across the United States currently use METRIC technology to track agricultural water use. METRIC measures evapotranspiration- the amount of water evaporating from the soil and transpiring from plant's leaves. This process cools the plant down so irrigated farm fields appear cooler (bluer) in Landsat satellite images. The thermal band data on Landsat satellites allows water specialists to measure ET. The latest evolution of METRIC technology- an application called EEFLUX, will allow anyone in the world to produce field-scale maps of water consumption, including on mobile devices. METRIC was developed in the early 2000s and to date, EEFLUX has been introduced to the California Department of Water Resources, the California Water Control Board, and the World Bank.
 

Related

Nebraska Water Usage

Credits

Alison Schuyler Ogden (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Lead Producer
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Visualizer
Ayse Kilic (University of Nebraska): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Goddard TV Tape:
G2015-077 -- Nebraska Water Management

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
NASA Science >> Earth