{"id":12238,"date":"2024-10-16T18:07:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T22:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/the-view-from-space-keeps-getting-better\/"},"modified":"2024-10-16T18:07:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T22:07:59","slug":"the-view-from-space-keeps-getting-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/the-view-from-space-keeps-getting-better\/","title":{"rendered":"The View from Space Keeps Getting Better\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The View from Space Keeps Getting Better\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n

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2 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Farms in California\u2019s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta face strict reporting requirements for water usage because the delta supplies most of the state\u2019s freshwater. This Landsat image uses infrared wavelengths to depict vegetation.<\/div>\n
Credit: U.S. Geological Survey<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The 30-acre pear orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has been in Brett Baker\u2019s family since the end of the Gold Rush. After six generations, though, California\u2019s most precious resource is no longer gold \u2013 it\u2019s water. And most of the state\u2019s freshwater is in the delta.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Landowners there are required to report their water use, but methods for monitoring were expensive and inaccurate. Recently, however, a platform called OpenET, created by NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and other partners, has introduced the ability to calculate the total amount of water transferred from the surface to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. This is a key measure of the water that\u2019s actually being removed from a local water system. It\u2019s calculated based on imagery from Landsat and other satellites.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s good public policy to start with a measure everyone can agree upon,\u201d Baker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

OpenET is only one of the latest uses researchers and businesses continue finding for Landsat over 50 years after the program started collecting continuous imagery of Earth\u2019s surface. NASA has built and launched all nine of the satellites before handing them over to USGS, which manages the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Some of the most pressing questions people ask about Earth are about the food it\u2019s producing. Agriculture and adjacent industries are among the heaviest users of Earth-imaging data, which can help assess crop health and predict yields.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The latest Landsat satellite, Landsat 9, went into orbit in fall of 2021. NASA and the USGS are already developing options for the next iteration of Landsat, currently known as Landsat Next.<\/div>\n
Credit: NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Even in this well-established niche, though, new capabilities continue to emerge. One up-and-coming company is using Landsat to validate sustainable farming practices by measuring carbon stored in the ground, which can be detected in the reflectance rate in certain wavelengths. This is how Perennial Inc. is enabling emerging markets for carbon credits, through which farmers get paid for maximizing their land\u2019s storage of carbon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company is also discovering interest among food companies that want to reduce their environmental impact by choosing eco-conscious suppliers, as well as companies in the fertilizer, farm equipment, and agricultural lending businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Landsat also enables countless map-based apps, studies of changes in Earth\u2019s surface cover over half a century, and so much more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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