7-14 IAN Lansat 8

Monitoring water use from space…as in satellites. The Idaho Water Resources Department was honored last year by Harvard University's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation for their use of Landsat data to monitor agricultural water use in Idaho. Other states have since followed their lead. An international team of scientists and engineers advising federal officials on the next generation of earth resource satellites recently gathered in Boise. The science team's mission is to find similar uses for the satellite data, advise U.S. Geological Survey and NASA officials about future satellite needs and develop new ways to use the four decades of archived information to monitor land use and ecological changes.

University of Idaho water resources engineer Rick Allen explains what this landsat technology accomplishes as it relates to agriculture: “Landsat satellite program is going to be and has been instrumental in Idaho and other Western States in managing the transfer of water amongst various users, amonst ag users and from agricultural to environmental uses.”

Allen also said that Landsat 8 is a totally new design and will use sensors similar in concept to those used in digital cameras to record and transmit images instead of complex and expensive mirrored devices. Like past Landsats, the new model will continue to track land use through images with a resolution of 30-meter squares.