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NASA data shows weather extremes will worsen over the next decade

Data gathered by NASA shows that weather extremes will worsen over the next decade.

NASA Director of Earth Science Karen St. Germain says there’s more energy being trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere changing water cycles and that’s bad news for farmers. “Or the way water moves around the planet, and the way farmers experience that is in some cases increased drought and in other cases increased precipitation.  And, an increase intensity of precipitation.”

She says NASA measures incoming solar radiation and outgoing emissions. “We measure that difference, and we know from those direct measurements, there is an increasing amount of heat rapped in that system.  It’s great to see the agriculture community getting involved in that conversation.”

Speaking with Brownfield during this week’s Commodity Classic, she tells Brownfield satellites from space gather data to help them study weather patterns, which help equip farmers. “It’s that whole continual process, observing, keeping a record of everything that we observed and then gaining the understanding that allows us to predict. That’s really where we can start building giving producers really impactful tools.”

St. Germain says one challenge is collecting that data and producing it in a medium that is easy to understand and use for producers.

Karen St Germain: