Protecting the Planet's Water

Kaleita, colleagues study water cycles for NASA

Amy Kaleita and Brian Hornbuckle supervise the placement of remote sensors in an Iowa State research field.

Amy Kaleita is co-PI on a team of researchers that has received a ﬁve-year, $1.3-million grant from NASA to study the use of remote sensing technology to monitor the earth’s water cycle. Brian Hornbuckle, an assistant professor in agronomy who also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the project’s principal investigator. They are joined by several co-PIs from the University of Iowa.

The project seeks to determine if remote sensing technology can offer an accurate picture of water cycles over space and time. Equipment will be placed on Iowa State research farmland to measure soil moisture, precipitation, radiation, and evapotranspiration (the movement of water within and from plants). Data generated on site will be conﬁrmed by comparing it to data generated by remote sensing equipment.

According to Kaleita, accurate data from remote sensing technology can help to predict drought patterns, which in turn can help producers make better management decisions. Ultimately, Hornbuckle adds, the information may help predict both short-term weather conditions and long-term climate change.

Click here to read the full article from Innovate Magazine.

Read more abou the remote sensing project at www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/news/2006releases/remotesensing.html.