Open AccessUsing GPS to Study the Terrestrial Water Cycle
Author(s) -
Larson Kristine M.,
Small Eric E.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1002/2013eo520001
Subject(s) - water cycle , global positioning system , environmental science , measure (data warehouse) , snow , vegetation (pathology) , instrumentation (computer programming) , satellite , remote sensing , meteorology , computer science , geography , engineering , telecommunications , ecology , medicine , pathology , database , biology , operating system , aerospace engineering
Researchers are using GPS—usually thought of as a way to measure position—to measure water cycle properties, including surface soil moisture, snow depth, and vegetation growth, which are important for climate studies and satellite validation. Water managers need these data to predict, and possibly mitigate, hazards such as floods and droughts. While there are strong international efforts to use ground networks to measure and archive data for these quantities, the GPS‐based water cycle data have the advantage that existing instrumentation can be used, significantly reducing the cost of operating this new terrestrial water cycle network.