Satellite might help explain Texas water deficit

From the El Paso Times:

A satellite launched Saturday in California will provide important data as researchers grope for ways to explain a massive deficit in Texas water over the past several years, a scientist involved in the research said.

While gravitational measurements from a 13-year-old satellite mission were used to determine the size of the Texas water deficit, the mission starting Friday will use radar and radio waves to measure one little-understood component — soil moisture.

Scientists are trying to figure out why Texas' "total water storage" has remained extremely low since scorching, drought-stricken 2011. Total water storage is the amount of water stored in the soil, in aquifers and in above-ground reservoirs and streams.

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