{"id":119165,"date":"2024-02-17T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/?p=119165"},"modified":"2024-04-05T17:41:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T21:41:10","slug":"satellite-based-technology-used-for-sustainable-water-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/satellite-based-technology-used-for-sustainable-water-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite-based Technology Used for Sustainable Water Management"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Samhar Almomani, Publishing Associate<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Researcher and Writer<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Save the Water\u2122 | February 17, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Satellite-based technology <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2024-01-rigorous-remote-tool-accuracy-satellite.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is part of the latest push to ensure sustainable water management, an increasing concern in arid regions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/gis-and-water-security\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remote sensing tools, such as OpenET, are becoming prominent for managing water resources<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/clean-water-technology-rohingya-refugee-camps\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These remote sensing technologies can help scientists and researchers track and better understand water resource needs in these areas.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/openet-satellite-based-water-data-resource\/#:~:text=OpenET%20uses%20publicly%20available%20data,U.S.%20Geological%20Survey%20(USGS).\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OpenET is especially helpful. It\u2019s publicly available data that is provided by satellite-based information on evapotranspiration<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It\u2019s a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, who launched their latest satellite in the program in September 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/special-topics\/water-science-school\/science\/evapotranspiration-and-water-cycle#overview\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evapotranspiration is the sum of all processes which move water from any land surface to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. There are different types of evapotranspiration:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water evaporation from the soil surface to the atmosphere<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Different water bodies on the ground<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any other object that may play a role in this process.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transpiration is also part of evapotranspiration. It\u2019s the process of water movement from the soil to the atmosphere using plants.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">Why Satellite-based Tracking is Helpful in Water Management\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers rely on knowledge of the mechanics of evapotranspiration in different areas to better understand a region\u2019s needs. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/media\/images\/openet\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OpenET is a useful tool because it allows us to monitor water use in an operational, field-scale setting.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This means that researchers can use this tool to gather data about the evapotranspiration process in that area. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov\/article\/openet-study-helps-water-managers-and-farmers-put-landsat-to-work\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on information gathered from OpenET, researchers can suggest different water management techniques.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a recent study, scientists from the Desert Research Institute (DRI) led a comparative study.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2024-01-rigorous-remote-tool-accuracy-satellite.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It looked at how OpenET data matched up to evapotranspiration data that was produced by 152 ground-based small-scale weather science stations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Subsequently, the findings were exciting. They found out that data provided by OpenET has a high accuracy rate. Specifically, it\u2019s accurate when it comes to assessing evapotranspiration in an agricultural setting. This is even more true when assessing annual crops, such as wheat and corn. Additionally, the data given by OpenET was most reliable in arid regions like California and states in the Southwest. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.chapman.edu\/2024\/01\/17\/chapman-universitys-environmental-scientist-dr-joshua-fisher-contributes-to-milestone-study-on-openets-precision-in-monitoring-water-use\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consequently, OpenET is a revolutionary tool that can be used to address the water sustainability crisis in dry regions.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">What Were the Study\u2019s Findings?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In terms of annual crops, data from OpenET<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s44221-023-00181-7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for monthly, growing season and annual evapotranspiration showed an average error rate of roughly 10-20%.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This number is the targeted range that is set by OpenET and their partners, which include farmers and water management agencies.\u00a0 The average error rate was lower for Mediterranean climates, which averaged consistently below 10% during the peak of growing season. Hence, this shows how this tool can be useful to many. In terms of orchards, the data was more varied at 17%. However, researchers think this may be the result of shadows of taller vegetation impacting satellite data.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data provided by OpenET can also be used to track evapotranspiration in natural ecosystems. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dri.edu\/a-new-rigorous-assessment-of-openet-accuracy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data had an error rate of less than 1mm per day at monthly to annual timesteps for most natural land cover types. Yet, the error rates for OpenET are higher for some natural land cover ecosystems.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The error rates range from 35% for forests to 50% for shrublands. However, OpenET is still trusted as a useful indicator of water availability, water stress on plants, and even the impact of droughts.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">Future Plans for Using OpenET\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers agree that evapotranspiration is one of the most difficult types of water movement to measure. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2024\/01\/240116191503.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, OpenET\u2019s ability to have similar or better accuracy to ground-based weather stations for agricultural land is exciting news for the field.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Moreover, researchers plan to continue using OpenET satellite data along with new Google Earth Engine cloud computing resources. As a result, this will allow scientists to study a number of different models and assess their strengths and weaknesses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dri.edu\/a-new-rigorous-assessment-of-openet-accuracy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plans for future research involve a focus on natural ecosystems. Furthermore, the plans will assess how current OpenET models compare under different agricultural demand management and conservation actions.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Overall, this technology unlocks numerous possibilities for researchers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samhar Almomani, Publishing Associate: Researcher and Writer at Save the Water\u2122 | February 17, 2023 Satellite-based&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12901,"featured_media":119166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,65],"tags":[3485,498,521,575],"yst_prominent_words":[2075,612,1802],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119167,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119165\/revisions\/119167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119165"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=119165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}