File:SMAP OrangeJuiceDrought (16198437118).jpg

English: Launching next Thursday, Jan 29, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) will monitor soil moisture and provide critical information for drought early warning. Soil moisture strongly affects plant growth and hence agricultural productivity, especially during conditions of water shortage and drought. Researchers forecast a threefold increase in drought frequency in many regions of the world by the end of the 21st Century. History shows that a sustained drought can result in crop failure, deaths of livestock, and ultimately deaths of people. Improvements in the ability to monitor and forecast agricultural drought (i.e., the lack of root-zone soil moisture) will improve famine early warning in the most food-insecure countries in the world. There is an economic impact as well: It is estimated that the 2012 drought in the Midwest led to harvest failures costing an estimated $30 billion. Currently, there is no global in situ network for soil moisture monitoring. Global estimates of soil moisture and plant water stress must be derived from models, which can be greatly enhanced through assimilation of space-based soil moisture observations such as those from SMAP.