Data for a changing world: Satellites for sustainability
Rainfall patterns are changing. The occurrence of record high temperatures is increasing. Severe weather events — huge rainfall, severe droughts, stronger and wetter hurricanes, and typhoons — are becoming more common and potentially more deadly. As local conditions change, historical knowledge of how to grow food and how to manage water resources becomes less valuable, making feeding a growing population that much more difficult. Who would guess that some of the solutions to these challenges would be coming from 500-700 kilometers above the surface of Earth?
To manage resources sustainably in a changing world, you need information. Where is the water and how much is there to sustain crops across the growing season? What are the temperatures in my region going to be in 10 or 15 years, and how might that affect what I grow and when? If you are a water manager in a developing country, how do you fairly and adequately allocate water to agriculture and to your citizens? What are the changing rainfall amounts and seasons that could bring in parasites carrying deadly diseases?
