Satellite sensors uncover a global view of the water hidden between soil particles.
Published Nov 12, 2015
Views from the ground and from space are helping scientists understand how soil moisture affects U.S. agriculture.
Published Nov 25, 2015
Harvey dropped buckets of rain on areas that were already very dry or very wet.
Published Aug 31, 2017
The Aquarius instrument was designed to study ocean salinity, but it is also making an important contribution to studies of the water cycle on land.
Published Jul 15, 2014
The amount of water contained in the top few centimeters of soil is small on a global scale, but it is critical for agriculture analysts trying to monitor commodity production and humanitarian need.
Published Jun 2, 2018
The proportion of sand, silt, and clay contained in soil across the U.S. affects the amount of water it can hold.
Published Jan 9, 2016
The SMAP mission lifts off to make the most accurate, high-resolution soil moisture measurements ever collected from space.
Published Feb 1, 2015
Eastern Australia has been hit particularly hard by drought, taking a toll on the region’s soil moisture and agriculture.
Published Aug 9, 2018Image of the Day Land Water Drought Human Presence Remote Sensing
Twin satellites are assessing the state of soil moisture and groundwater on the continent and around the world.
Published Apr 6, 2020
Though a series of winter storms provided some relief, a pair of satellites operated by NASA shows that groundwater supplies remained unusually low in many parts of the country.
Published Jan 19, 2013
The GRACE satellites can detect the movement and depletion of water supplies at and below Earth’s surface.
Published Sep 20, 2012
As the Carolinas flood from Hurricane Florence, NASA is providing valuable information for rescue and recovery efforts.
Published Sep 18, 2018Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water Severe Storms Human Presence Remote Sensing
A new map reveals the extreme depletion of groundwater in Texas and other parts of the southern United States due to drought.
Published Dec 1, 2011
See where shallow groundwater has responded to the unusually wet conditions this year.
Published Dec 20, 2018
A slow-moving weather system brought a deluge to the U.S. South, flooding communities in multiple states.
Published Mar 16, 2016
By planting in narrow strips and plowing in patterns that mimic the natural contours of the land, farmers in southeastern Washington are trying to prevent productive soils from washing away.
Published Aug 31, 2014
Long-term rainfall deficits, heat waves, and increased evaporation have depleted some of the groundwater supply beneath central and eastern Europe.
Published Jun 25, 2020
Scientists have developed a new way to measure water cycle intensity over time.
Published Jul 26, 2019
Though rain has stopped falling, coastal communities in South Carolina are preparing for a second round of flooding as a pulse of water pushes toward the sea.
Published Oct 10, 2015
Nearly all fresh water at Earth’s highest northern latitudes is frozen. But just a short distance to the south, the landscape comes alive each year after the spring thaw.
Published Jan 2, 2016
Following Ethiopia’s worst drought in decades, rainfall in 2016 is off to an uneven start.
Published Apr 19, 2016
Hurricane Joaquin never made landfall, yet the weather system has wreaked havoc in the Americas.
Published Oct 6, 2015
This color-coded map shows the storm track and rainfall totals associated with Hurricane Irene from August 22 to 28, 2011.
Published Aug 30, 2011
