- WE LEARN VERY EARLY IN LIFE
HOW THE WEATHER AFFECTS THE WAY WE DRESS
AND EVEN WHEN SOME OF OUR FAVORITE FOODS ARE IN SEASON.
AS WE GET OLDER, WE CAREFULLY WATCH THE WEATHER
AND CLIMATE MODELS OR FLOOD AND DROUGHT PREDICTIONS
TO SEE THE POTENTIAL IMPACT ON OUR WALLETS.
WHETHER IT'S KNOWING WHEN TO BRING AN UMBRELLA
OR WHEN TO CONSERVE WATER, WE'RE ALWAYS LOOKING
FOR BETTER WAYS TO IMPROVE THESE MODELS.
BUT HOW DO SCIENTISTS COME UP WITH THESE COMPLEX PREDICTIONS,
AND HOW IS MATH INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS?
THE ANSWER COULD BE BENEATH YOUR FEET.
FIND OUT MORE NEXT ON "REAL WORLD."
[upbeat electronic music]
THE LAYER OF SOIL JUST BELOW YOUR FEET
AND THE MOISTURE THAT'S TRAPPED THERE
HOLD THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTIONS
BETWEEN WATER, ENERGY, AND CARBON CYCLES HERE ON EARTH.
AND NASA'S SOIL MOISTURE ACTIVE PASSIVE MISSION,
ALSO KNOWN AS SMAP,
WILL HELP SCIENTISTS TO FIND THAT KEY.
SMAP WILL MEASURE SOIL MOISTURE ACROSS THE ENTIRE GLOBE
AND DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOISTURE IS FROZEN OR THAWED,
BUT WHAT IS SOIL MOISTURE, AND HOW IS NASA GOING TO MEASURE IT?
- SOIL MOISTURE IS THE AMOUNT OF WATER THAT'S IN THE SOILS.
SO THINK OF SOILS AS A SPONGE.
SO SPONGES CAN HOLD WATER UP TO A CERTAIN POINT,
THEN THEY SATURATE.
SO SOILS ARE SORT OF SIMILAR.
THEY CAN HOLD A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF WATER.
- NASA HAS A MISSION THAT IS GOING TO BE LAUNCHING
CALLED SMAP.
SMAP IS THE SOIL MOISTURE ACTIVE PASSIVE MISSION,
AND IT WILL BE MEASURING SOIL MOISTURE FROM SPACE,
BECAUSE WHEN WE MEASURE SOIL FROM SPACE,
WE CAN COVER A LOT OF AREA IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME.
WE WILL HAVE A GLOBAL MAP OF SOIL MOISTURE
EVERY THREE DAYS FROM SMAP.
- SO THAT IN ITSELF WILL FEED INTO A NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS.
IT'LL FEED INTO WEATHER MODELS, CLIMATE MODELS.
IT'LL FEED INTO FLOOD MODELING, DROUGHT MONITORING MODELS.
IT DOES HAVE A LOT OF APPLICATIONS.
- SO SOIL MOISTURE IS SIMPLY THE QUANTITY OR AMOUNT OF WATER
CONTAINED IN A GIVEN SAMPLE OF SOIL.
HOW WILL SMAP BE MAKING THESE EARTH MEASUREMENTS FROM SPACE?
- SMAP HAS TWO SENSORS.
THEY'RE BOTH IN THE MICROWAVE RANGE.
IT ALLOWS US TO SEE THROUGH CLOUDS,
SO REGARDLESS OF DAY OR NIGHT CONDITIONS
OR ANY KIND OF WEATHER CONDITIONS,
WE CAN STILL SEE THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH.
- SMAP IS AN ACTIVE PASSIVE MISSION.
THE ACTIVE, OR THE RADAR,
IS GOING TO GIVE YOU HIGH RESOLUTION.
SO IT'S GOING TO GIVE YOU A LOT OF DETAIL
WITHIN A 3-KILOMETER RESOLUTION,
AND THEN THE PASSIVE, WHICH IS THE RADIOMETER,
IS GOING TO GIVE YOU HIGH ACCURACY,
AND THAT IS GOING TO GIVE IT TO YOU
WITHIN A 40-KILOMETER RESOLUTION.
WHAT THE SMAP SCIENTISTS ARE GOING TO DO IS,
THEY'RE GOING TO USE MATH--
THEY'RE GOING TO WRITE AN ALGORITHM--
TO ESSENTIALLY COMBINE THE 3-KILOMETER
AND THE 40-KILOMETER TO GIVE YOU
A 9-KILOMETER HIGH-ACCURACY RESOLUTION.
SO WITHIN THAT 9-KILOMETER GRID SPACE,
YOU WILL HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING
OF HOW WET OR HOW DRY THE SOIL IS.
- TO HELP YOU THINK LIKE SMAP SCIENTISTS,
TRY MEASURING THE CHANGES
IN SOIL MOISTURE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD.
BECAUSE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOILS HOLD DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF WATER,
YOU MAY WISH TO TAKE SEVERAL SOIL SAMPLES
FROM DIFFERENT LOCATIONS.
TAKE A SAMPLE OF SOIL FROM A DEPTH OF 10 CENTIMETERS.
MEASURE 100 GRAMS OF SOIL USING A BALANCED SCALE.
BE SURE TO REMOVE ANY ROCKS AND PEBBLES
AS WELL AS ANY WORMS OR INSECTS FROM YOUR SAMPLE
BEFORE YOUR MEASURE IT.
PLACE THE SAMPLE IN A LOCATION TO DRY.
EACH DAY FOR TEN DAYS, RECORD THE MASS OF THE SOIL
TO THE NEAREST TENTH OF A GRAM.
GRAPH YOUR RESULTS.
HOW DID YOUR SAMPLE CHANGE OVER TIME?
DID YOU NOTICE ANY PATTERNS?
TO CALCULATE THE PERCENTAGE OF SOIL WATER IN YOUR SAMPLE,
USE THIS FORMULA:
SIMILAR TO THE MEASUREMENTS YOU MADE,
SMAP WILL COLLECT GLOBAL MEASUREMENTS
OF SOIL MOISTURE RESULTING IN A GLOBAL MAP
WITH SOIL MOISTURE EVERY THREE DAYS.
HAVING THAT CONSTANT STREAM OF DATA WILL ALLOW SCIENTISTS
TO ACCURATELY TRACK HOW SOIL MOISTURE CHANGES
IN A PARTICULAR LOCATION.
AND JUST WHAT WILL THESE MEASUREMENTS HELP US UNDERSTAND?
- THE SOIL MOISTURE, KNOWING THAT,
IT WILL ACTUALLY TELL US A NUMBER OF THINGS, SO--
DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT.
AND IF WE WERE TO LOOK AT FLOOD MODELING,
HOW FAR OUT THE FLOODING WATERS COULD ESSENTIALLY GO
DEPENDING ON HOW WET THE SOIL IS BEFORE THE STORM,
RIGHT BEFORE THE FLOOD REALLY PICKS UP.
- SMAP WILL ADVANCE OUR ABILITY TO MONITOR DROUGHTS
AND PREDICT FLOODS,
AND THIS HELPS TO MITIGATE THE IMPACTS
THAT THIS MIGHT HAVE ON HUMAN LIVES.
- FOR CROP PRODUCTION, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY,
CROP PRODUCTIVITY, EVEN CROP FORECASTING
AND HAVING AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHEN TO PLANT
AND WHEN TO ESSENTIALLY HARVEST YOUR CROP.
- BEING ABLE TO HAVE AN ASSESSMENT
ON WHETHER THERE'S A DROUGHT COMING ON
WILL HELP BETTER MANAGE CROPS
AND BETTER ESTIMATE WHAT CROP YIELDS MIGHT BE LIKE.
- IT'S CRITICAL FOR AGRICULTURE.
IT'S CRITICAL FOR HEALTH, SO IT DOES PLAY
AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN OUR DAY-TO-DAY LIVES.
- WITH SMAP RETURNING GLOBAL MEASUREMENTS OF SOIL MOISTURE
EVERY THREE DAYS FOR AT LEAST THREE YEARS,
SCIENTISTS WILL HAVE A GINORMOUS AMOUNT OF DATA,
DATA THAT HAS REAL APPLICATIONS
FOR EACH ONE OF US HERE ON PLANET EARTH.
SEE YOU NEXT TIME ON "REAL WORLD."