BME Researchers To Validate Data for NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States has signed a cooperation agreement with BME, under which the University will support the U.S. government agency in the validation of satellite-based soil moisture measurement data.

This collaboration between NASA and the BME can be traced back to the summer university held at BME a year and a half ago, where experts from NASA, the European Space Agency, and several American and European universities shared their knowledge over several days with 36 international students from BME and ten other countries, focusing on how to most accurately measure the moisture content of the Earth’s surface.

Microwave Space Probes

The space research group of the Department of Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics at the Faculty of Civil Engineering is involved in verifying the accuracy of soil moisture maps generated from data obtained from NASA's SMAP space probe and the U.S.–Indian satellite system named NISAR, which was launched last summer. These microwave space probes scan the Earth's surface day and night using the L-band frequency at which GPS satellites also operate. The microwave signal emitted by the surface is highly sensitive to the moisture content of the top layer of soil.

This is how satellites collect data

For agriculture, it is essential to know the spatial distribution of soil moisture in order to carry out drought management interventions or develop irrigation plans. Last year's extreme drought has also drawn attention to these problems, which could become increasingly common in the future due to climate change. Monitoring soil moisture is also particularly important as 

recent research shows that heatwaves, which are becoming more common in Europe, only develop where soil moisture levels fall below a certain threshold. 

Therefore, these satellite data will also play a key role in weather forecasting.

“The essence of the agreement, which holds the promise of joint research results, is that NASA seeks the assistance of the university in verifying the validity and accuracy of the data”, said Zsófia Kugler, head of the department and research group, multiple-time guest researcher at NASA’s JPL and former Fulbright scholar, in a statement to bme.hu. "It is essential to compare spaceborne data with ground-based measurements and validate them to minimise or eliminate possible errors. We will support NASA in this effort with local data," Kugler added.

An Important First Step

In response to our inquiry, the researcher explained that while the current agreement is a purely scientific declaration of intent and carries no financial implications, it remains a significant first step. "The partnership could become closer in the future; however, this would require an intergovernmental research funding framework, which unfortunately does not currently exist between the United States and Hungary," she added.

The document also states that NASA and BME aim to leverage their collaboration to establish an educational programme for European researchers, which “would enable further scientific partnerships and exchanges regarding the utilisation of datasets created for research on the terrestrial water cycle, hydrology, and agriculture."

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