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water

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in the arid western united states it

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seems there's almost never enough of it

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but the biggest use of water in the west

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isn't for drinking it's for growing food

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agriculture consumes about 90 percent of

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the water diverted by humans in western

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states

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as the demand for water increases the

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pressure's on to make sure every drop

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it's tricky business gauging how much

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water farm fields are consuming let

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alone how much water is seemingly

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evaporating into thin air

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that's where water specialists tony

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morse

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rick allen

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and bill cramer come in

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they're taking a long view of the

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problem a very long view

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they're studying farms from space

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the best general view

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that is what remote sensing from space

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gives us

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we get to see the relationships the

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spatial relationships between elements

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that are too far apart

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for us to see them and understand them

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when we're walking around on the ground

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landsat satellites take images in the

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visible spectrum

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but they also capture images in

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wavelengths invisible to the naked eye

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landsat's thermal imager captures

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infrared data which clues scientists in

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to how much water agricultural growers

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are using

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we can map where water is being applied

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and used

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but we can also see how much water is

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being used which is very important for

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applications here at water resources

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how can something like a thermal

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measurement tell us about water use

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it's due to a familiar phenomenon

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evaporation or in this case

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evapotranspiration

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the term simply refers to evaporation of

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water from the soil plus transpiration

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the release of water through plants

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as farmers irrigate crops

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evapotranspiration causes the field to

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cool

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the temperature difference is invisible

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to the eye but is captured by landsat's

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infrared measurements

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so by looking at

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cool areas and warm areas in some ways

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that can tell us whether or not there's

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enough water to supply the needs of a

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plant whether the plants are dry because

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several satellites have thermal imagers

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that can help measure evapotranspiration

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but landsat offers advantages

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landsat instruments capture a wide

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enough area to get the big picture

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and the spatial resolution is high

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enough to not only make out individual

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irrigation projects but to discern

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individual fields that is so powerful

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because we know that every field has its

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own behavior its own characteristics its

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own rate of development

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we are now able to

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to pinpoint water consumption on a field

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by field basis which has never been

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possible before

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the information helps farmers and water

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managers target fields where water

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consumption might exceed water rights

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tony rick and bill's measurements have

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even been used to help settle water

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for their innovative use of the landsat

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data the team was awarded a 2009 harvard

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university innovations in american

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government award

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and they're depending on landsat to

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deliver information as water becomes

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our water supply is going to come under

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increasing pressure

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from a changing climate and a growing

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population

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we have to be able to measure

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water use in order to be able to manage

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it

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we are convinced that over the next 20

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to 30 years

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we will have

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millions of people in developing

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countries impacted with a more

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sustainable food supply

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brought

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by better management of water

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and that water management is going to be

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propelled by the use of satellite

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as our planet changes landsat's over

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25-year thermal record plays a crucial

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role in helping us understand how we've

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used water up until now