Earth  ID: 30698

Soil Moisture and Rainfall

Released on October 27, 2015
There is a newer version of this story located here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/31046
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Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity are compared to Rainfall
This visualization compares weekly soil moisture and sea surface salinity data (over land and water, respectively) from NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive Satellite (SMAP) mission [top map] with a precipitation product called Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM, or IMERG [bottom map], from April 17 to August 2, 2015. IMERG is derived using data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) international constellation of satellites. These maps reveal how precipitation amounts influence soil moisture conditions and sea surface salinity. For example, high amounts of precipitation along the equator coincide with relatively moist soil conditions on land (blue shades) and low salinity values in the ocean (green and blue shades). Conversely, areas that receive little or no precipitation, such as the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, coincide with dry soils (dark yellow shades). Scientists can use data from SMAP and IMERG to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities. Societal benefits include improved water-resource management, agricultural productivity, and wildfire and landslide predictions. Data from SMAP also allow us to extend the data record of the highly successful 3-year Aquarius sea surface salinity mission into the future.
 

Source Material

Earth: A System of Systems

Newer Version

Soil Moisture, Salinity and Precipitation

Credits

Marit Jentoft-Nilsen: Visualizer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30698

Mission:
Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation >> Rain
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Land Surface >> Soils >> Soil Moisture/Water Content
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Salinity/Density >> Salinity
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Presentation

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0