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(lively country music)

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- [Narrator] California's Central Valley,

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one of the most productive
agricultural regions on Earth.

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Home to more than 250 crops,

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feeding a quarter of the nation.

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Almonds, peaches, broccoli, avocados,

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and of course, you can't make a bottle

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of California wine without grapes.

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Like all crops, growing
grapes takes water.

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In California, where water
shortages are not uncommon,

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every drop counts.

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In 2008, E. & J. Gallo Winery,

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headquartered in Modesto, California

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and one of the largest wine
producers in the world,

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set an ambitious target:

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cut water usage across
their vineyards in half,

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without sacrificing grape quality.

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To achieve this goal, however,

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they first had to answer the question,

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how do you measure exactly how
much water each vine needs,

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across thousands of acres?

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The answer, it turns out,
came from above the vineyards,

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438 miles above to be exact,

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the Landsat program.

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Since 1972, Landsat satellites
have been orbiting Earth,

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collecting data and imagery
of the planet's surface.

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But how can a satellite,

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orbiting hundreds of
miles above the Earth,

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tell us how much water a grapevine

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in Central California needs?

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Landsat satellites carry
onboard thermal sensors

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that can measure surface temperature,

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and that temperature
tells a story about water.

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Plants stay cool the same
way you do on a hot day,

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by releasing water.

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Combine that with moisture
evaporating from the soil,

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and you get what scientists
call evapotranspiration,

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ET for short, a measure of how much water

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is actually being used.

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Well-watered vines appear cooler

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while vines that need
more water appear warmer.

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In 2013, Gallo partnered
with USDA researchers

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to launch the Grape Remote
Sensing Atmospheric Profile

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and Evapotranspiration eXperiment,

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or GRAPEX for short,

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a research experiment that
combined Landsat's thermal data

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with ground measurements

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to build a precision irrigation toolkit.

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The amount of water
grapevines need can vary,

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even within the same vineyard,

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but thanks to Landsat 8's
30-meter resolution,

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about the size of a baseball diamond,

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they could map water use
vine row by vine row.

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For the first time, growers
could schedule watering

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based on what the vines were
telling them, from space,

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allowing Gallo's team
to balance irrigation

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with the carefully timed mild stress

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that actually improves grape
quality for winemaking.

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After years of collaboration,

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the company has reached the halfway mark

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on its 50% reduction goal,

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while maintaining yield and grape quality

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across thousands of acres.

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Nick Dokoozlian, who led Gallo's research,

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and grew up on his own family's vineyard,

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shared what the team
learned with almond growers,

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tree crop producers, and other
farmers across the valley.

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That knowledge helped build the foundation

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for something much bigger, OpenET,

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a free, publicly available platform

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that puts satellite-based water data

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in the hands of anyone who needs it.

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Built on Landsat data and
powered by Google Earth Engine,

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OpenET uses six scientific
models to estimate water use

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down to a quarter-acre per pixel.

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It launched in 2021,
covering 17 western states.

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Today, it's expanded to
all 48 contiguous states,

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with more than 15,000 users,

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from individual farmers
checking a single field

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to federal agencies managing
entire river basins.

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All of it built on Landsat,

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all of it free and open to the public.

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As OpenET continues to grow,

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reaching more farmers
and supporting new crops,

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the Landsat data behind
it keeps getting better.

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For more than fifty years,

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Landsat has watched over Earth's surface.

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Now, from California's vineyards

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to farms in all 48 contiguous states,

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that view is helping American agriculture

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grow more with less,

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one pixel at a time.

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(gentle country music)