Jump to content

OpenET Moisture Measurement Tool is Proving Highly Accurate


Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
Posted

5 min read

OpenET Moisture Measurement Tool is Proving Highly Accurate

This satellite image centers the meandering Sacramento river surrounded by rice fields. The fields are broken into primarily square and rectangular areas with the fields nearest the river being full of green and brown vegetation, and farther from the river they are flooded and appear dark blue.
This is a false-color image, acquired December 26, 2018, with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8, and shows flooded rice fields along the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. Inundated fields appear dark blue; vegetation is bright green.  
NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin

As 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 into the atmosphere. OpenET does this on a field-level scale that is greatly improving the way farmers, ranchers, and water resource managers steward one of Earth’s most precious resources.

Researchers have now conducted a large-scale analysis of how well OpenET is tracking evapotranspiration over crops and natural landscapes. The team compared OpenET data with measurements from 152 sites with ground-based instruments across the United States. In agricultural areas, OpenET calculated evapotranspiration with high accuracy, especially for annual crops such as wheat, corn, soy, and rice. The researchers reported their findings on January 15 in Nature Water.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the results,” said John Volk, lead author of the study and assistant research scientist and software engineer at Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev. “The accuracy in croplands was quite strong, particularly in western arid regions, which are important areas for agriculture and have water sustainability challenges.”

That’s welcome news for regions where OpenET data is already being put to work. In Northern California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, water resource managers are using OpenET to help farmers comply with state rules requiring them to report aspects of their water use. The new study “gives us more confidence that these numbers are accurate, and that OpenET is continually improving over time,” said Lindsay Kammeier, a senior engineer with the California State Water Board in Sacramento, who was not involved in the new research.

“ET is notoriously difficult to calculate,” she added. “Having a really accurate number helps us to make decisions to manage the environment, manage for agricultural uses, and manage for urban uses better and from a common understanding.”

Tracking the Invisible Movement of Water

While many people are familiar with what one inch of rainfall means, few stop to think about one inch of evapotranspiration returning to the atmosphere, said Forrest Melton, the OpenET project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “OpenET is working to make the unseen process of evapotranspiration as easy to track as checking the amount of rainfall in the daily weather forecast.”

Evapotranspiration is the natural process in which water moves to the atmosphere from the surface. The term combines evaporation—water changing from liquid to gas (vapor) and rising from soil, lakes, and oceans—and transpiration, the “exhaling” by plants as they release moisture back into the air. After precipitation, evapotranspiration is one of the most important factors for estimating how much water is available for crops or other plants.

This map shows evapotranspiration levels across Central California including the Bay Area. Darker blue can be seen in the Central Valley.
In California, state officials and farmers are using satellite data through OpenET to track evapotranspiration to better manage water resources. The process is a window into the water consumed by plants and crops, such as those grown in the Central Valley.
NASA Earth Observatory using openetdata.org

For farmers and water managers, accurate data provides a measure of the amount of water required through irrigation to replace the water that has been consumed by evapotranspiration. Knowing precisely how much water is available helps people give plants the moisture they need to flourish, without needing to apply too much. And that, in turn, can help save money for water and for the electricity used to pump water for irrigation.

But all that rising water vapor is invisible, making it difficult and expensive to track on the ground.

Farmers, scientists, and others previously relied on estimates of “potential evaporation” based on temperature, humidity, and other weather data. Or they turned to ground-based stations such as flux towers, equipped with sensors that monitor carbon dioxide, water vapor, and the exchange of heat between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere—a process crucial to calculating evapotranspiration.

But while they tend to be highly accurate, flux towers are expensive to set up and maintain, so there are a limited number, and their data is local and cannot represent wider regions. That’s where calculating evapotranspiration from space comes in. Satellites pass over the same areas regularly, offering consistent monitoring.

OpenET’s primary observations come from the Landsat 8 and 9 satellites, a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The satellites combine data on land surface temperatures and the greenness of plants, among other things. Cooler land surface temperatures over areas with healthier, denser vegetation, for example, usually indicate higher levels of transpiration. 

That data is then fed into models to calculate evapotranspiration at high resolution—about a quarter of an acre for each image pixel.

The new results show that for agricultural lands, OpenET data for monthly, growing season, and annual timescales had an average error rate of about 10-20%.

The OpenET consortium includes NASA, USGS, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture working with Desert Research Institute and nearly a dozen other universities, Environmental Defense Fund, and Google Earth Engine.

For more information, go to: https://openetdata.org/

By: Emily DeMarco, NASA Earth Science Division

About the Author

Emily DeMarco

Share

Details

Last Updated
Feb 01, 2024
Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      4 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      What happens when the universe’s most magnetic object shines with the power of 1000 Suns in a matter of seconds? Thanks to NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), a mission in collaboration with ASI (Italian Space Agency), scientists are one step closer to understanding this extreme event. 
      Magnetars are a type of young neutron star – a stellar remnant formed when a massive star reaches the end of its life and collapses in on itself, leaving behind a dense core roughly the mass of the Sun, but squashed down to the size of a city. Neutron stars display some of the most extreme physics in the observable universe and present unique opportunities to study conditions that would otherwise be impossible to replicate in a laboratory on Earth.
      To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
      Illustrated magnetar flyby sequence showing magnetic field lines. A magnetar is a type of isolated neutron star, the crushed, city-size remains of a star many times more massive than our Sun. Their magnetic fields can be 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet's and up to a thousand times stronger than a typical neutron star's. This represents an enormous storehouse of energy that astronomers suspect powers magnetar outbursts.NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA) The magnetar 1E 1841-045, located in the remnants of a supernova (SNR Kes 73) nearly 28,000 light-years from Earth, was observed to be in a state of outburst by NASA’s Swift, Fermi, and NICER telescopes on August 21, 2024. 
      A few times a year, the IXPE team approves requests to interrupt the telescope’s scheduled observations to instead focus on unique and unexpected celestial events. When magnetar 1E 1841-045 entered this brighter, active state, scientists decided to redirect IXPE to obtain the first-ever polarization measurements of a flaring magnetar.
      Magnetars have magnetic fields several thousand times stronger than most neutron stars and host the strongest magnetic fields of any known object in the universe. Disturbances to their extreme magnetic fields can cause a magnetar to release up to a thousand times more X-ray energy than it normally would for several weeks. This enhanced state is called an outburst, but the mechanisms behind them are still not well understood. 
      Through IXPE’s X-ray polarization measurements, scientists may be able to get closer to uncovering the mysteries of these events. Polarization carries information about the orientation and alignment of the emitted X-ray light waves; the higher the degree of polarization, the more the X-ray waves are traveling in sync, akin to a tightly choreographed dance performance. Examining the polarization characteristics of magnetars reveals clues about the energetic processes producing the observed photons as well as the direction and geometry of the magnetar magnetic fields. 
      The IXPE results, aided by observations from NASA’s NuSTAR and NICER telescopes, show that the X-ray emissions from 1E 1841-045 become more polarized at higher energy levels while still maintaining the same direction of propagation. A significant contribution to this high polarization degree comes from the hard X-ray tail of 1E 1841-045, an energetic magnetospheric component dominating the highest photon energies observed by IXPE. “Hard X-rays” refer to X-rays with shorter wavelengths and higher energies than “soft X-rays.” Although prevalent in magnetars, the mechanics driving the production of these high energy X-ray photons are still largely unknown. Several theories have been proposed to explain this emission, but now the high polarization associated with these hard X-rays provide further clues into their origin.
      This illustration depicts IXPE’s measurements of X-ray polarization emitting from magnetar 1E 1841-045 located within the Supernova Remnant Kes 73. At the time of observation, the magnetar was in a state of outburst and emitting the luminosity equivalent to 1000 suns. By studying the X-ray polarization of magnetars experiencing an outburst scientists may be able to get closer to uncovering the mysteries of these events. Michela Rigoselli/Italian National Institute of Astrophysics The results are presented in two papers published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, one led by Rachael Stewart, a PhD student at George Washington University, and the other by Michela Rigoselli of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics..  
      “This unique observation will help advance the existing models aiming to explain magnetar hard X-ray emission by requiring them to account for this very high level of synchronization we see among these hard X-ray photons,” said Stewart. “This really showcases the power of polarization measurements in constraining physics in the extreme environments of magnetars.”
      Rigoselli, lead author of the companion paper, added, “It will be interesting to observe 1E 1841-045 once it has returned to its quiescent, baseline state to follow the evolution of its polarimetric properties.”
      IXPE is a space observatory built to discover the secrets of some of the most extreme objects in the universe. Launched in December 2021 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket, the IXPE mission is part of NASA’s Small Explorer series. 
      IXPE, which continues to provide unprecedented data enabling groundbreaking discoveries about celestial objects across the universe, is a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency mission with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. IXPE is led by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. BAE Systems, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.
      Learn more about IXPE’s ongoing mission here:
      https://www.nasa.gov/ixpe
      Media Contact
      Elizabeth Landau
      NASA Headquarters
      elizabeth.r.landau@nasa.gov
      202-358-0845
      Lane Figueroa
      Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
      lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
      256.544.0034 
      About the Author
      Beth Ridgeway

      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Jun 05, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayContactLane FigueroaElizabeth R. Landauelizabeth.r.landau@nasa.govLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
      IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Marshall Astrophysics Marshall Science Research & Projects Marshall Space Flight Center The Universe Explore More
      5 min read 3 Black Holes Caught Eating Massive Stars in NASA Data
      Black holes are invisible to us unless they interact with something else. Some continuously eat…
      Article 22 hours ago 4 min read Core Components for NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Pass Major Shake Test
      Article 23 hours ago 5 min read NASA’s Webb Rounds Out Picture of Sombrero Galaxy’s Disk
      After capturing an image of the iconic Sombrero galaxy at mid-infrared wavelengths in late 2024,…
      Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      5 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Editor’s Note: The following is one of three related articles about the NASA Data Acquisition System and related efforts. Please visit Stennis News – NASA to access accompanying articles.
      A blended team of NASA personnel and contractors support ongoing development and operation of the NASA Data Acquisition System at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Team members include, left to right: Andrew Graves (NASA), Shane Cravens (Syncom Space Services), Peggi Marshall (Syncom Space Services), Nicholas Payton Karno (Syncom Space Services), Alex Elliot (NASA), Kris Mobbs (NASA), Brandon Carver (NASA), Richard Smith (Syncom Space Services), and David Carver (NASA)NASA/Danny Nowlin Members of the NASA Data Acquisition System team at NASA’s Stennis Space Center evaluate system hardware for use in monitoring and collecting propulsion test data at the site.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA software engineer Alex Elliot, right, and Syncom Space Services software engineer Peggi Marshall fine-tune data acquisition equipment at NASA’s Stennis Space Center by adjusting an oscilloscope to capture precise measurements. NASA/Danny Nowlin Syncom Space Services software test engineer Nicholas Payton Karno monitors a lab console at NASA’s Stennis Space Center displaying video footage of an RS-25 engine gimbal test, alongside data acquisition screens showing lab measurements. NASA/Danny Nowlin Just as a steady heartbeat is critical to staying alive, propulsion test data is vital to ensure engines and systems perform flawlessly.
      The accuracy of the data produced during hot fire tests at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, tells the performance story.
      So, when NASA needed a standardized way to collect hot fire data across test facilities, an onsite team created an adaptable software tool to do it.
      “The NASA Data Acquisition System (NDAS) developed at NASA Stennis is a forward-thinking solution,” said David Carver, acting chief of the Office of Test Data and Information Management. “It has unified NASA’s rocket propulsion testing under an adaptable software suite to meet needs with room for future expansion, both within NASA and potentially beyond.”
      Before NDAS, contractors conducting test projects used various proprietary tools to gather performance data, which made cross-collaboration difficult. NDAS takes a one-size-fits-all approach, providing NASA with its own system to ensure consistency.
      “Test teams in the past had to develop their own software tools, but now, they can focus on propulsion testing while the NDAS team focuses on developing the software that collects data,” said Carver.
      A more efficient workflow has followed since the software system is designed to work with any test hardware. It allows engineers to seamlessly work between test areas, even when upgrades have been made and hardware has changed, to support hot fire requirements for the agency and commercial customers.
      With the backing and resources of the NASA Rocket Propulsion Test (RPT) Program Office, a blended team of NASA personnel and contractors began developing NDAS in 2011 as part of the agency’s move to resume control of test operations at NASA Stennis. Commercial entities had conducted the operations on NASA’s behalf for several decades.
      The NASA Stennis team wrote the NDAS software code with modular components that function independently and can be updated to meet the needs of each test facility. The team used LabVIEW, a graphical platform that allows developers to build software visually rather than using traditional text-based code.
      Syncom Space Services software engineer Richard Smith, front, analyzes test results using the NASA Data Acquisition System Displays interface at NASA’s Stennis Space Center while NASA software engineer Brandon Carver actively tests and develops laboratory equipment. NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA engineers, from left to right, Tristan Mooney, Steven Helmstetter Chase Aubry, and Christoffer Barnett-Woods are shown in the E-1 Test Control Center where the NASA Data Acquisition System is utilized for propulsion test activities. NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA engineers Steven Helmstetter, Christoffer Barnett-Woods, and Tristan Mooney perform checkouts on a large data acquisition system for the E-1 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The data acquisition hardware, which supports testing for E Test Complex commercial customers, is controlled by NASA Data Acquisition System software that allows engineers to view real-time data while troubleshooting hardware configuration.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA engineers Steven Helmstetter, left, and Tristan Mooney work with the NASA Data Acquisition System in the E-1 Test Control Center, where the system is utilized for propulsion test activities.NASA/Danny Nowlin “These were very good decisions by the original team looking toward the future,” said Joe Lacher, a previous NASA project manager. “LabVIEW was a new language and is now taught in colleges and widely used in industry. Making the program modular made it adaptable.”
      During propulsion tests, the NDAS system captures both high-speed and low-speed sensor data. The raw sensor data is converted into units for both real-time monitoring and post-test analysis.
      During non-test operations, the system monitors the facility and test article systems to help ensure the general health and safety of the facility and personnel.
      “Having quality software for instrumentation and data recording systems is critical and, in recent years, has become increasingly important,” said Tristan Mooney, NASA instrumentation engineer. “Long ago, the systems used less software, or even none at all. Amplifiers were configured with physical knobs, and data was recorded on tape or paper charts. Today, we use computers to configure, display, and store data for nearly everything.”
      Developers demonstrated the new system on the A-2 Test Stand in 2014 for the J-2X engine test project.
      From there, the team rolled it out on the Fred Haise Test Stand (formerly A-1), where it has been used for RS-25 engine testing since 2015. A year later, teams used NDAS on the Thad Cochran Test Stand (formerly B-2) in 2016 to support SLS (Space Launch System) Green Run testing for future Artemis missions.
      One of the project goals for the system is to provide a common user experience to drive consistency across test complexes and centers.
      Kris Mobbs, current NASA project manager for NDAS, said the system “really shined” during the core stage testing. “We ran 24-hour shifts, so we had people from across the test complex working on Green Run,” Mobbs said. “When the different shifts came to work, there was not a big transition needed. Using the software for troubleshooting, getting access to views, and seeing the measurements were very common activities, so the various teams did not have a lot of build-up time to support that test.”
      Following success at the larger test stands, teams started using NDAS in the E Test Complex in 2017, first at the E-2 Test Stand, then on the E-1 and E-3 stands in 2020.
      Growth of the project was “a little overwhelming,” Lacher recalled. The team maintained the software on active stands supporting tests, while also continuing to develop the software for other areas and their many unique requirements.
      Each request for change had to be tracked, implemented into the code, tested in the lab, then deployed and validated on the test stands.
      “This confluence of requirements tested my knowledge of every stand and its uniqueness,” said Lacher. “I had to understand the need, the effort to meet it, and then had to make decisions as to the priorities the team would work on first.”
      Creation of the data system and its ongoing updates have transformed into opportunities for growth among the NASA Stennis teams working together.
      “From a mechanical test operations perspective, NDAS has been a pretty easy system to learn,” said Derek Zacher, NASA test operations engineer. “The developers are responsive to the team’s ideas for improvement, and our experience has consistently improved with the changes that enable us to view our data in new ways.”
      Originally designed to support the RPT office at NASA Stennis, the software is expanding beyond south Mississippi to other test centers, attracting interest from various NASA programs and projects, and garnering attention from government agencies that require reliable and scalable data acquisition. “It can be adopted nearly anywhere, such as aerospace and defense, research and development institutions and more places, where data acquisition systems are needed,” said Mobbs. “It is an ever-evolving solution.”
      Read More Share
      Details
      Last Updated May 08, 2025 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related Terms
      Stennis Space Center View the full article
    • By NASA
      6 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Dwane Roth (right), a fourth generation grain farmer in Finney County, Kansas, stands with nephew Zion (left) in one of their corn fields. Roth’s farm became one of the first Water Technology Farms in Kansas around 2016, and he has been using OpenET data for the past few years to track evapotranspiration rates and conserve water. Photo courtesy of Dwane Roth A NASA and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)-supported research and development team is making it easier for farmers and ranchers to manage their water resources.

      The team, called OpenET, created the Farm and Ranch Management Support (FARMS) tool, which puts timely, high-resolution water data directly in the hands of individuals and small farm operators. By making the information more accessible, the platform can better support decision-making around agricultural planning, water conservation, and water efficiency.  The OpenET team hopes this will help farmers who are working to build greater resiliency in local and regional agriculture communities. build greater resiliency in local and regional agriculture communities.

      “It’s all about finding new ways to make satellite data easier to access and use for as many people as possible,” said Forrest Melton, the OpenET project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. “The goal is to empower users with actionable, science-based data to support decisions about water management across the West.”

      The goal is to empower users with actionable, science-based data to support decisions about water management across the West.
      Forrest melton
      OpenET Project Scientist


      OpenET Data Explorer Tool: The Road to FARMS

      The OpenET data explorer tool centers on providing evapotranspiration data. Evapotranspiration (ET) refers to the amount of water leaving Earth’s surface and returning to the atmosphere through evaporation (from soil and surface water) and transpiration (water vapor released by crops and other plants). Evapotranspiration is an important factor in agriculture, water resource management, irrigation planning, drought monitoring, and fire risk evaluation.

      The FARMS resource is the third phase of OpenET’s Data Explorer tool, launched in 2021, which uses satellite data to quantify evapotranspiration across the western U.S.

      It starts with using Landsat data to measure patterns in land surface temperature and key indicators of vegetation conditions. The satellite data is combined with agricultural data, such as field boundaries, and weather data, such as air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, and precipitation. All of these factors feed into a model, which calculates the final evapotranspiration data.

      The new FARMS interface was designed to make that data easier to access, with features that meet specific needs identified by users.

      “This amount of data can be complicated to use, so user input helped us shape FARMS,” said Jordan Harding, app developer and interface design leader from HabitatSeven. “It provides a mobile-friendly, map-based web interface designed to make it easy as possible to get automated, regular reports.”

      Top: A section of the 2024 annual report Roth submits to the Farm Service Agency, with hand-written annotations marking which crop will be grown that year. Bottom: Those same fields in the new OpenET FARMS interface, with a dashboard on the left displaying evapotranspiration data over the course of 2024 at monthly intervals. Each color line corresponds to the same color field on the map, showcasing how much evapotranspiration rates can differ between different crops in the same vicinity. The unique shape of the purple field (forage sorghum), is an example of a case where FARMS’ custom shape feature is helpful. Once the initial report is set up, Roth can re-run reports for the same fields at any time. NASA/OpenET “The FARMS tool is designed to help farmers optimize irrigation timing and amounts, simplify planning for the upcoming irrigation season, and automate ET and water use reporting,” said Sara Larsen, CEO of OpenET. “All of this reduces waste, lowers costs, and informs crop planning.”

      Although FARMS is geared towards agriculture, the tool has value for other audiences in the western U.S. Land managers who evaluate the impacts of wildfire can use it to evaluate burn scars and changes to local hydrology. Similarly, resource managers can track evapotranspiration changes over time to evaluate the effectiveness of different forest management plans.

      New Features in FARMS

      To develop FARMS, the OpenET team held listening sessions with farmers, ranchers, and resource managers. One requested function was support for field-to-field comparisons; a feature for planning irrigation needs and identifying problem areas, like where pests or weeds may be impacting crop yields.

      The tool includes numerous options for drawing or selecting field boundaries, generating custom reports based on selected models and variables, and  automatically re-running reports at daily or monthly intervals.

      The fine spatial resolution and long OpenET data record behind FARMS make these features more effective. Many existing global ET data products have a pixel size of over half a mile, which is too big to be practical for most farmers and ranchers. The FARMS interface provides insights at the scale of a quarter-acre per pixel, which offers multiple data points within an individual field.

      “If I had told my father about this 15 years ago, he would have called me crazy,” said Dwane Roth, a fourth-generation farmer in Kansas. “Thanks to OpenET, I can now monitor water loss from my crops in real-time. By combining it with data from our soil moisture probes, this tool is enabling us to produce more food with less water. It’s revolutionizing agriculture.”

      The FARMS mobile interface displays a six-year evapotranspiration report of a pear orchard owned by sixth-generation California farmer Brett Baker. The purple line in the dashboard report (left) corresponds with the field selected in purple on the map view (right), which users can toggle between using the green buttons in the top right corners. Running multi-year reports allows farmers to review historical trends.NASA/OpenET For those like sixth-generation California pear farmer Brett Baker, the 25-year span of ET data is part of what makes the tool so valuable. “My family has been farming the same crop on the same piece of ground for over 150 years,” Baker said. “Using FARMS gives us the ability to review historical trends and changes to understand what worked and what didn’t year to year: maybe I need to apply more fertilizer to that field, or better weed control to another. Farmers know their land, and FARMS provides a new tool that will allow us to make better use of land and resources.”

      According to Roth, the best feature of the tool is intangible.  “Being a farmer is stressful,” Roth said. “OpenET is beneficial for the farm and the agronomic decisions, but I think the best thing it gives me is peace of mind.”

      Being a farmer is stressful. OpenET is beneficial for the farm and the agronomic decisions, but I think the best thing it gives me is peace of mind.
      Dwane Roth
      Fourth-Generation Kansas Grain Farmer

      Continuing Evolution of FARMS

      Over the coming months, the OpenET team plans to present the new tool at agricultural conferences and conventions in order to gather feedback from as many users as possible. “We know that there is already a demand for a seven-day forecast of ET, and I’m sure there will be requests about the interface itself,” said OpenET senior software engineer Will Carrara. “We’re definitely looking to the community to help us further refine that platform.”

      “I think there are many applications we haven’t even thought of yet,” Baker added. “The FARMS interface isn’t just a tool; it’s an entirely new toolbox itself. I’m excited to see what people do with it.”


      FARMS was developed through a public-private collaboration led by NASA, USGS, USDA, the non-profit OpenET, Inc., Desert Research Institute, Environmental Defense Fund, Google Earth Engine, HabitatSeven, California State University Monterey Bay, Chapman University, Cornell University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, UC Berkeley and other universities, with input from more than 100 stakeholders.
      To use FARMS, please visit: https://farms.etdata.org/


      For additional resources/tutorials on how to use FARMS, please visit: https://openet.gitbook.io/docs/additional-resources/farms



      About the Author
      Milan Loiacono
      Science Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Mar 04, 2025 Related Terms
      Ames Research Center's Science Directorate Ames Research Center Earth Science Earth Science Division Water & Energy Cycle Explore More
      2 min read NASA Marks 110 Years Since Founding of Predecessor Organization
      Article 1 day ago 3 min read NASA Uses New Technology to Understand California Wildfires
      Article 4 days ago 1 min read Commodity Classic Hyperwall Schedule
      NASA Science at Commodity Classic Hyperwall Schedule, March 2-4, 2025 Join NASA in the Exhibit…
      Article 5 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      4 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Artist concept highlighting the novel approach proposed by the 2025 NIAC awarded selection of SUPREME-QG: Space-borne Ultra-Precise Measurement of the Equivalence Principle Signature of Quantum GravityNASA/Selim Shahriar Selim Shahriar
      Northwestern University, Evanston
      Progress in physics has largely been driven by the development and verification of new theories that unify different fundamental forces of nature. For example, Maxwell revolutionized physics with his unified theory of electricity and magnetism, and the Standard Model of particle physics provides a consistent description of all fundamental forces (electromagnetic, strong, and weak) except for gravity. The major barrier to completing the quest for unification is that General Relativity (GR), the current theory of gravity, cannot be reconciled with QM. Theories of Quantum Gravity (TQG), which are yet untested, prescribe modifications of both GR and QM in a manner that makes them consistent with each other. Tests of TQG represent arguably the greatest challenge facing our understanding of the Universe. The most promising way to test TQG is to search for violation of the Equivalence Principle (EP), a fundamental tenet of GR which states that all objects experience the same acceleration in a gravitational field. Violation of EP is characterized by a nonzero Eotvos parameter, Eta, defined as the ratio of the relative acceleration to the mean acceleration experienced by two objects with different inertial masses in a gravitational field. EP violations at the level of Eta < 10^(-18) arise in many versions of TQG (e.g., string theory). The most precise test of the EP to date has been carried out under the space-borne MICROSCOPE experiment employing classical accelerometers, constraining the value of Eta to <1.5×10^(-15). We propose to investigate the use of a radically new method that leverages quantum entanglement to test the EP with extreme precision, at the level of Eta ~ 10^(-20), using a space-borne platform. This method is described in a recent paper by us (PRD 108, 024011, ’23). It makes use of simultaneous Schroedinger Cat (SC) state atom interferometers (AIs) with two isotopes of Rb. Consisting of N=10^6 atoms, the SC state, which is a maximally entangled quantum state generated via spin-squeezing of cold atoms in an optical cavity, acts as a single particle, in a superposition of two collective states, enhancing the sensitivity by a factor of ~root(N)=10^3. Such large-N SC states are difficult to create and have not been observed yet, let alone leveraged for precision metrology. In another recent paper, we described a novel protocol, namely the generalized echo squeezing protocol (GESP), to overcome the challenges of creating such a state (PRA 107, 032610, ’23). We will demonstrate the functionality of this method in a testbed to enable a follow-on space-borne mission capable of testing the EP at the level of Eta ~ 10^(-20). If EP violation is observed, the version of TQG that agrees most closely with the result would form the foundation for a complete theory governing the universe, including its birth: the Big Bang. A null result would force physicists to conceive an entirely new approach to addressing the irreconcilability of GR and QM, fundamentally altering the course of theoretical physics. Either outcome would represent one of the greatest developments in our quest for understanding nature. The SC-state AI (SCAI), also holds the promise of revolutionary improvements in the precision of gravitational cartography and inertial navigation, when configured for simultaneous accelerometry and rotation sensing. The sensitivity of such a sensor, for one second averaging time, would be ~0.9 femto-g for accelerometry, and ~0.5 pico-degree/hour for rotation sensing. This would represent an improvement by a factor of ~10^5 over the best conventional accelerometer, and a factor of ~10^4 over the best conventional gyroscopes. As such, the SCAI would find widespread usage in defense as well as non-defense sectors, including deep-space exploration, for inertial navigation. A space-borne SCAI would be able to carry out gravitational cartography with a resolution far greater than that achieved using the GRACE-FO satellites.
      2025 Selections
      Facebook logo @NASATechnology @NASA_Technology


      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Jan 10, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
      NIAC Studies NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program Keep Exploring Discover More NIAC Topics
      Space Technology Mission Directorate
      NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts
      NIAC Funded Studies
      About NIAC
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      2 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails visit the American Airlines Integrated Operations Center near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on a recent trip to see NASA’s digital tools for aviation efficiency in operational use.American Airlines It’s the holiday season — which means many are taking to the skies to join their loved ones.
      If you’ve ever used an app to navigate on a road trip, you’ve probably noticed how it finds you the most efficient route to your destination, even before you depart. To that end, NASA has been working to make flight departures out of major international airports more efficient — thereby saving fuel and reducing delays — in close collaboration with the aviation industry and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 
      The savings are possible thanks to a NASA-developed tool called Collaborative Digital Departure Rerouting. 
      This tool determines where potential time savings could be gained by slightly altering a departure route, based on existing data about delays. The software presents its proposed more-efficient route in real time to an airline, who can then decide whether or not to use it and coordinate with air traffic control through a streamlined digital process. 
      The capability is being tested thoroughly at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field Airport in Texas in collaboration with several major air carriers, including American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, and United. 
      Now, these capabilities are expanding out of the Dallas area to other major airports in Houston for further research. 
      “We’re enabling the use of digital services to greatly improve aviation efficiency,” said Shivanjli Sharma, manager of NASA’s Air Traffic Management — eXploration project which oversees the research on aviation services. “Streamlining airline operations, reducing emissions, and saving time are all part of making an efficient next-generation airspace system.” 
      NASA / Maria Werries The animation above shows the savings Collaborative Digital Departure Rerouting is responsible for at just a single airport. As the tool is expanded to be used at other airports, the savings begin to add up even more. 
      It’s all part of NASA’s vision for transforming the skies above our communities to be more sustainable, efficient, safer, and quieter. 
      Collaborative Digital Departure Rerouting is one of a series of new cloud-based digital air traffic management tools NASA and industry plan to develop and demonstrate as part of the agency’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership. These new flight management capabilities will contribute to the partnership’s goal of accelerating progress towards aviation achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 
      About the Author
      John Gould
      Aeronautics Research Mission DirectorateJohn Gould is a member of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications team at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He is dedicated to public service and NASA’s leading role in scientific exploration. Prior to working for NASA Aeronautics, he was a spaceflight historian and writer, having a lifelong passion for space and aviation.
      Facebook logo @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More
      2 min read NASA, Notre Dame Connect Students to Inspire STEM Careers
      Article 19 mins ago 4 min read NASA Finds ‘Sideways’ Black Hole Using Legacy Data, New Techniques
      Article 2 days ago 8 min read 2024 in Review: Highlights from NASA in Silicon Valley 
      Article 3 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Dec 20, 2024 Related Terms
      Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Air Traffic Management – Exploration Air Traffic Solutions Airspace Operations and Safety Program Ames Research Center Green Aviation Tech Sustainable Flight National Partnership View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...