Image: Root-zone soil moisture map
Friday, May 13, 2016 - 05:30
in Astronomy & Space
ESA's SMOS mission was launched in 2009 to provide global observations of soil moisture and ocean salinity – two important variables in Earth's water cycle. While this novel Earth Explorer satellite continues to advance our understanding of the planet, it is also showing considerable potential for real-world applications to improve everyday life. A number of these applications have been presented at the Living Planet Symposium in Prague in the Czech Republic. One example demonstrates how information from SMOS is being used to help forecast crop yield and to monitor drought.