NASA On Air: NASA Launches Soil Moisture Satellite to Aid Weather Forecasts (1/31/2015)
LEAD: NASA launched a new Earth-observing satellite over the weekend (Saturday, January 31, 2015) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
1. The satellite's unique 20-foot spinning radar will measure the amount of water in the top two inches of soil around the world, every three days.
2. This information is important because the evaporation of water in soil affects how storm clouds develop.
3. Soil moisture data will assist forecasters to make better predictions of floods and droughts.
TAG: Monitoring worldwide changes to soil moisture will help scientists predict future weather and climate.
For More Information
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
-
Video editor
- Joy Ng (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
-
Producer
- Howard Joe Witte (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
-
Project support
- Eric Sokolowsky (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
Related Pages
-
-
ID: 11741 Produced Video
Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Live Shot Page 1.29.15
Read moreNASA scientists talk about the launch of the Soil Moisture Active Passive - or SMAP - satellite scheduled to launch on Jan 29. SMAP will take stock of the water hidden just beneath your feet, in the topsoil. Knowing how much water is in the soil, and whether it is frozen or thawed, has profound applications for society, from better forecasting of natural disasters like floods and droughts to helping prevent food shortages.How SMAP's radiometer works.How SMAP will help weather forecasts.More about SMAP.NASA TV's video file. ||
-
ID: 11743 Produced Video
SMAP Radiometer versus Radio Frequency Interference
Read moreThe microwave radiometer on NASA's SMAP mission was designed and built at Goddard Space Flight Center to avoid unwanted radio frequency interference. Instrument Scientist Jeff Piepmeier explains how and why.For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_nasaportal_print.jpg (1024x576) [57.7 KB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_nasaportal00802_print.jpg (1024x576) [57.0 KB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_nasaportal_thm.png (80x40) [5.1 KB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_nasaportal_web.png (320x180) [63.7 KB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_nasaportal_searchweb.png (320x180) [63.7 KB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [99.7 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [84.5 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [153.4 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [3.0 GB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_appletv.m4v (960x540) [84.6 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_720x480.wmv (720x480) [78.6 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_720x480.webm (720x480) [22.3 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [33.5 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_nasaportal.mov (640x360) [84.1 MB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer-captions.en_US.srt [3.7 KB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer-captions.en_US.vtt [3.7 KB] || G2015-009_SMAP_Radiometer_MASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [17.9 MB] ||
-