California Reservoirs Reflect Deepening Drought
Four years after California emerged from a severe multi-year drought, the state’s precipitation and lake levels are among their worst since the 1970s. The deepening drought is seen in satellite images of the state’s two largest reservoirs.
Western Soils And Plants Are Parched
For the second year in a row, drought has overtaken much of the U.S. from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. Our Crop-CASMA soil moisture data portal, jointly developed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reflects the dry times.
NASA Snow Campaign Wraps For 2021
The 2021 SnowEx field campaign, which is helping determine how much water winter snowpack holds, has come to a close. Teams took snow measurements at six sites across the western U.S., on the ground and with drones and airplanes flying overhead.
The Central California Town That Keeps Sinking
The very ground upon which Corcoran lies has dipped nearly 12 feet in 14 years as a result of pumping of underground water for irrigation. Scientists can track the subsidence in the region using radar and satellite technology.
Satellites Show Water Cycle Ramping up as Climate Warms
For years, scientists looked for ways to measure large-scale changes in Earth’s water cycle. Satellites measuring the gravity of water delivered. From 2003 to 2019, land evapotranspiration increased by 10%, one sign that our water cycle is ramping up.
New NASA Earth System Observatory to Help Mitigate Climate Change, Disasters
NASA will design a new set of Earth-focused missions to help mitigate climate change and disasters, fight forest fires, and improve real-time agricultural processes.
Reclamation Provides $2.5M For Snow Water-Supply Forecasting
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has announced $2.5 million of funding for 12 projects to advance snow measurement technology with the goal of improving water-supply forecasts.
California Expands Drought Emergency to Large Swath of State
After one of the warmest, driest springs on record, most of the American west is in extensive drought. Amid acute water shortages in northern and central California, a drought emergency has been expanded to a large swath of the state.
PACE Terrestrial-Land Community Assessment
NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission is inviting the terrestrial-land community to provide insight into how PACE data products can be used.
New SWOT Satellite to Survey World's Water
How much water sloshes around in Earth’s lakes, rivers, and oceans? And how does that amount change over time? The upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission plans to find out.