Queensland's soggy soils revealed
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Eva Dögg
Jan 25, 2011, 8:13:26 AM1/25/11
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Queensland's soggy soils revealed
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
The extent to which Queensland's soils became saturated with water as
the Australian state was deluged with rain is evident in new satellite
imagery.
The maps were made by Europe's Smos spacecraft, which carries a novel
instrument capable of seeing the moisture held in the ground.
Launched in 2009, the satellite is on an experimental mission.
The hope is that its data can be used in future to give flood warnings
where wet soils are becoming overloaded.
"This is what we want to do," explained Dr Claire Gruhier, a Smos
researcher from the Centre for Spatial Studies of the Biosphere
(Cesbio) in Toulouse, France.
"We are working on techniques that will allow us to combine the soil
moisture product of Smos with the precipitation information from other
satellites."
The floods in Queensland have been among the worst ever recorded in
the state.
They have left a vast area under water, inundated 30,000 homes and
businesses and claimed the lives of at least 30 people.
Maps made by the European Space Agency Smos satellite document the
state's increasingly soggy ground at the height of the natural
disaster.
The first image records the spacecraft's two passes over Australia on
25 December, when Tropical Cyclone Tasha was battering the Queensland
coast.
The wet earth in the north-east of the continent contrasts
dramatically with the dry ground in central-west Australia.
Darker blue colours denote soils that contain more than 40% water.
In the week 22-28 December, some areas were experiencing more than 300
or 400 mm of precipitation.
At that rate, the earth will rapidly saturate and any excess liquid
will simply run off.
The second map shows Smos data from 2 January, the day before the
activation of the International Charter [on] Space and Disasters.
This charter coordinates Earth observation satellites from many
nations to provide imagery to support emergency services and aid
organisations.
In this instance, the request for help was initiated by charter member
USGS (US Geological Survey) on behalf of Emergency Management
Australia.
The latest imagery from Smos illustrates the satellite's potential to
deliver more timely flood warnings.
If its data is tied together with precipitation forecasts, it could be
used to assess which locations are most at risk.
Smos carries a single instrument: an 8m-wide interferometric
radiometer.
This instrument works by measuring the natural emission of microwaves
coming up off the planet's surface.
Variations in the sogginess of the soil will modify this signal.
Smos stands for Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity. The radiometer will
also measure variations in the saltiness of seawater.
The investigation of Smos soil moisture data is led from Cesbio.
Jonathan.Am...@bbc.co.uk
Heimildir
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12206639
frekari upplýsingar
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/smos/SEMM1K4PVFG_0.html
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
The extent to which Queensland's soils became saturated with water as
the Australian state was deluged with rain is evident in new satellite
imagery.
The maps were made by Europe's Smos spacecraft, which carries a novel
instrument capable of seeing the moisture held in the ground.
Launched in 2009, the satellite is on an experimental mission.
The hope is that its data can be used in future to give flood warnings
where wet soils are becoming overloaded.
"This is what we want to do," explained Dr Claire Gruhier, a Smos
researcher from the Centre for Spatial Studies of the Biosphere
(Cesbio) in Toulouse, France.
"We are working on techniques that will allow us to combine the soil
moisture product of Smos with the precipitation information from other
satellites."
The floods in Queensland have been among the worst ever recorded in
the state.
They have left a vast area under water, inundated 30,000 homes and
businesses and claimed the lives of at least 30 people.
Maps made by the European Space Agency Smos satellite document the
state's increasingly soggy ground at the height of the natural
disaster.
The first image records the spacecraft's two passes over Australia on
25 December, when Tropical Cyclone Tasha was battering the Queensland
coast.
The wet earth in the north-east of the continent contrasts
dramatically with the dry ground in central-west Australia.
Darker blue colours denote soils that contain more than 40% water.
In the week 22-28 December, some areas were experiencing more than 300
or 400 mm of precipitation.
At that rate, the earth will rapidly saturate and any excess liquid
will simply run off.
The second map shows Smos data from 2 January, the day before the
activation of the International Charter [on] Space and Disasters.
This charter coordinates Earth observation satellites from many
nations to provide imagery to support emergency services and aid
organisations.
In this instance, the request for help was initiated by charter member
USGS (US Geological Survey) on behalf of Emergency Management
Australia.
The latest imagery from Smos illustrates the satellite's potential to
deliver more timely flood warnings.
If its data is tied together with precipitation forecasts, it could be
used to assess which locations are most at risk.
Smos carries a single instrument: an 8m-wide interferometric
radiometer.
This instrument works by measuring the natural emission of microwaves
coming up off the planet's surface.
Variations in the sogginess of the soil will modify this signal.
Smos stands for Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity. The radiometer will
also measure variations in the saltiness of seawater.
The investigation of Smos soil moisture data is led from Cesbio.
Jonathan.Am...@bbc.co.uk
Heimildir
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12206639
frekari upplýsingar
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/smos/SEMM1K4PVFG_0.html
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