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Europe Launches Flood-Predicting Satellite and Test Probe
MikeChino writes to mention that the European Space Agency has launched a pair of satellites, one that will pinpoint accurately the future location and intensity of floods and droughts, and the other aimed at testing new tech. Launched on a Russian rocket launcher from the Plesestk cosmodrome, the SMOS probe will measure soil moisture, plant growth, and ocean salt levels across the globe. The measurements gathered by the SMOS probe can be used to track ocean circulation patterns and soil moisture — data that can be used to predict quickly drought and flood risk in certain areas, as well as the intricacies of the planet's climate cycle. The other satellite, a smaller demonstration probe dubbed Proba 2, will test 17 new technologies ranging from a new wide-angle view camera to a xenon-fed resistojet thruster.
Yay for taking a load of earth.
That took me three readings to parse. I'd say it was me, but it's more fun to blame it on the mods.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
And a new band name was coined.
Better add some umlauts, though.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
The measurements gathered by the SMOS probe can be used to track [...] soil moisture -- data that can be used to predict quickly drought and flood risk in certain areas
So when they measure that soil moisture is zero for a while, they can predict that a drought is going to have happened, and with soil moisture of about 6 feet of surface water, they can predict that flooding is going to have happened. Finally we should have a system more accurate than whatever those "meteorologists" use.
My webcomic
The ESA got a kickback from the insurance agencies, and the project will be funded by all the great ways the insurance companies can raise your rates with this research.
I get the feeling some one in the naming committee was from Bulgaria in order for them to name it so obviously to the Bulgarian word for Probe.
The salinity products from SMOS are now the most interesting part of the mission. Serendipitous 50 km soil moisture retrievals from the active microwave scatterometer (primarily an ocean wind sensor) on ESA METOP have been around for a few years and have undercut the novelty of this mission's land surface measurements.
However, the holy grail of oceanographic remote sensing is observing the surface conditions in the Western Pacific during El Nino formation. Measurements of near-daily surface salinity changes could elucidate the cause of ENSO or, at the very least, would become a useful diagnostic tool. SMOS should be more than capable of this.
So...this is going to protect us from the Flood?
I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
They must be having flash floods. In India we have floods that last for weeks. We could use some of this technology really.
A proud Indian
India News
...data that can be used to predict quickly drought and flood risk in certain areas,
Notice how "gives little to no warning" was worded as "predict quickly".
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
You know, as in the dry season is approaching and the soil moisture level is heading below safe values, therefore there is very likely to be a drought, therefore we need to do something now?
When did Slashdot become so popular that it started to attract people who don't understand how prediction and modelling works?
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Predict floods and droughts, eh? Maybe it'll predict our climate a bit better than IPCC can..
-- All your bass are below two Hz