Tracking Agricultural Water Use from Space

Water managers in 15 states across the United States currently use METRIC technology to track agricultural water use. METRIC measures evapotranspiration- the amount of water evaporating from the soil and transpiring from plant's leaves. This process cools the plant down so irrigated farm fields appear cooler (bluer) in Landsat satellite images. The thermal band data on Landsat satellites allows water specialists to measure ET. The latest evolution of METRIC technology- an application called EEFLUX, will allow anyone in the world to produce field-scale maps of water consumption, including on mobile devices. METRIC was developed in the early 2000s and to date, EEFLUX has been introduced to the California Department of Water Resources, the California Water Control Board, and the World Bank.