A few days ago, the total rainfall for April was featured showing a swath over the state that has missed out on the heavier rains (first image). A group here at ISU is working with a satellite called SMOS that attempts to sense the moisture in the upper few inches of soil. The SMOS soil moisture percentage is presented in the second image. The patterns line up very nicely where the areas that have received rains have wetter top soils than other areas. You may think this to be obvious, but having two independent datasets agree with each another is an encouraging sign and hope that the satellite is providing quality information. This plot has implications for spring farm field work as the upper top soil needs to be somewhat dry to support heavy equipment transversing it. Look for more SMOS information to appear on the IEM soon!

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Tags:   satellite   smos