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March 18th, 2024
Joining Forces on the Complexities of Clouds and AerosolsThe European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Earth System Science Initiative to provide a coordinated response to critical environmental challenges and related scientific questions. The EC’s Research and Innovation Department and ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes Directorate are aligning a set of selected scientific activities under their respective Horizon Europe and
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New research suggests that sunlight-blocking particles from an extreme eruption would not cool surface temperatures on Earth as severely as previously estimated. Some 74,000 years ago, the Toba volcano in Indonesia exploded with a force 1,000 times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The mystery is what happened after that—namely, to
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February 16th, 2024
Satellites Eye Winter Cover CropsFor the second year in a row, farmers in Maryland planted a record amount of winter cover crops in 2016-17. These cold-tolerant crops—including wheat, rye, barley and radish—are planted in the fall. In addition to increasing soil health and boosting yields, cover crops reduce soil erosion and absorb nutrients such as nitrogen that could otherwise affect water quality
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February 5th, 2024
OpenET Study Helps Water Managers and Farmers Put NASA Data to WorkAs the world looks for sustainable solutions, a system tapping into NASA satellite data for water management has passed a critical test. Called OpenET, the system uses an ensemble of six satellite-driven models that harness publicly available data from the Landsat program to calculate evapotranspiration (ET)—the movement of water vapor from soil and plant leaves