Mapping Soil from Space

NASA and the USDA agreed last week to embark upon a partnership in data- sharing.

The USDA said the partnership aims to better protect working lands, predict and prevent natural disasters, and inspire young people to pursue careers in science, math, technology, engineering, and agriculture.

NASA’s remote sensing work will allow for the collection of data on soil moisture. The satellite data also will allow for creation of a series of soil moisture maps that could improve long-term forecasting on water availability and detect drought in its earliest stages.

The technology could also detect wildfires and predict their behavior far more effectively than current tools. S