Articles

Does the public sector need the private sector’s help to address the freshwater crisis? 

Using remote-sensing data and machine learning, a team from NASA and beyond finds that switching to lower-intensity crops can reduce water consumption in California’s Central Valley by 93%, but this requires adopting uncommon crop types.

Resurrected for the first time in decades by an epic deluge of winter rain and snow, by spring the lake covered more than 100,000 acres, stretching over cotton, tomato and pistachio fields and miles of roads.

As the world looks for sustainable solutions, a system tapping into NASA satellite data for water management has passed a critical test.

Rapid declines are most common in aquifers under croplands in drier regions, including California, the most extensive analysis of groundwater trends so far shows.

Though the Sacramento Valley has relatively abundant surface-water supplies, groundwater is also key for many of its communities and farms.

Much recent attention towards groundwater sustainability has focused on the heavily overdrafted San Joaquin Valley. However, the Sacramento Valley also needs to bring its groundwater basins into balance and avoid significant undesirable results of pumping.

Water managers need accurate, consistent and timely data. A new online platform called OpenET puts NASA data in the hands of farmers, water managers and conservation groups.

NASA’s Harvest program and soil analytics company CropX have announced a new partnership. The alliance will provide farmers and industry experts with insights that help improve farming sustainability by conserving resources and improving crop yields.