Radio Iowa, IA
12-25-07
ISU, U-of-I researchers working on NASA project
By Matt Kelley
Researchers at Iowa's two largest universities have landed a grant from NASA to
study the movement of water -- how it collects in the soil and evaporates into the
air.
Brian Hornbuckle, an agronomy professor at Iowa State University, says the
focus is on what's called "remote sensing," the method used to measure how
water moves in the environment, from the atmosphere to the ground and back
into the atmosphere. Hornbuckle says the problem is that while remote sensing
produces a lot of pretty pictures, they're still not sure how accurate or useful it is,
so the project aims to determine the accuracy of remote sensing measurements
and how well they'll help scientists to understand the movement of water in the
environment.
One crucial element for Iowa farmers is soil moisture and Hornbuckle says
they're zeroing in on watching how water gets into the ground -- and how it
leaves. According to Hornbuckle, one of the biggest weaknesses in the weather
models is that they can't take into account the storage of moisture in the soil and
how it's released back into the atmosphere, so they want to develop remote
sensing methods that can measure the water stored in soil and how it returns to
the atmosphere.
Working with researchers from the University of Iowa, Hornbuckle's team will be
building a prototype remote sensing observatory for their research just south of
the ISU campus in Ames. He says the observatory will be a sort of "playground
for remote sensing scientists." The instruments will be buried in the ground at
several spots over a 200-acre field so the remote readings can be compared with
actual measurements in the soil.
The project is being funded by a five-year, $1.3 million dollar grant. The goal is to
help scientists better predict global water and energy cycles.