This week, NASA announced that a research team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory has developed a new method of measuring groundwater loss that will help improve groundwater management techniques. The team focused on utilizing satellite data during their study of Tulare Basin, part of California’s Central Valley, in order to track the effects of decades of farmers irritating crops using groundwater wells.

By comparing data on water loss and ground-level changes, researchers were able to get a more accurate understanding of how different soils were affected by the pumps. While, over the long term, Tulare Basin is sinking, short term rises and falls can be explained by whether water is being pumped from clay or sand. By incorporating this information into other agricultural models, scientists hope to make satellite-based water monitoring more effective and sustainable. Read more at NASA.