On January 29, NASA will launch a satellite that will peer into the topmost layer of Earth's soils. This will measure hidden waters that influence our ecosystems and climate.

University of Montana Professor John Kimball is among the team of researchers involved in the project. He developed algorithms that will digest vast amounts of data collected by the satellite. Professor Kimball has been working with NASA for almost a decade to develop methods for effective global monitoring of surface soil moisture.

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission will produce the most accurate, highest resolution global maps ever obtained from space of the moisture present in the top two inches of Earth's soils. Pretty neat that a UM prof is part of the team!

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