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Illustration of GRACE-FO above Alaska.
Illustration of GRACE-FO Above Alaska
A GRACE-FO satellite and its turntable fixture at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
GRACE-FO Satellite on a Turntable Before Launch
GRACE-FO in a protective shipping container arriving at a new facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
GRACE-FO Arrives at Vandenberg
The rocket carrying GRACE-FO lifts off into a blue sky, with the Pacific Ocean beneath it.
GRACE-FO Launch, Sky and Sea
GRACE Rendering
GRACE Rendering
The GRACE-FO satellites were assembled by Airbus Defence and Space in Germany. The photo shows one of the satellites in the testing facility of IABG, an Airbus subcontractor, in Munich (view 3).
GRACE-FO Satellites in Testing
This image shows the mean annual amplitude of total water storage on Earth in 2007 as measured by GRACE.
Total Water Storage from GRACE, 2007
A long exposure of the GRACE-FO launch from Vandenberg
GRACE-FO Launch, Long Exposure
The NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft launches onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
GRACE-FO Launches, Ocean View
The GRACE-FO satellites, attached to turntable fixtures, at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (view 1).
GRACE-FO Satellites, Attached to Turntable Fixtures
Flames from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching GRACE-FO into orbit.
Rocket Flames
Illustration of GRACE-FO separating from Falcon 9 rocket after launch.
GRACE-FO Separating from Rocket After Launch
Between 2002 and 2016, Antarctica shed approximately 125 gigatons of ice per year, causing global sea level to rise by 0.35 millimeters per year.
Antarctic Ice Loss 2002-2016
The GRACE-FO satellites, attached to turntable fixtures, at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
GRACE-FO Satellites at Vandenberg
The GRACE-FO satellites were assembled by Airbus Defence and Space in Germany. The photo shows the satellites in the testing facility of IABG, an Airbus subcontractor, in Munich (view 1).
GRACE-FO Satellites During Testing
Illustration of GRACE-FO in orbit (view 4)
Illustration of GRACE-FO (View 4)
The GRACE-FO satellites were assembled by Airbus Defence and Space in Germany. The photo shows one of the satellites in the testing facility of IABG, an Airbus subcontractor, in Munich (view 2).
GRACE-FO Satellites During Testing (View 2)
Illustration of GRACE-FO in orbit (view 2).
GRACE-FO in Orbit (View 2)
The two GRACE-FO satellites are seen from GFZ’s Satellite Laser Ranging Station in Potsdam, Germany, on May 23, 2018 at 22:16 UTC and 22:17 UTC, respectively.
GRACE-FO Satellites From Potsdam
An artist's rendering of the twin GRACE-FO spacecraft.
GRACE-FO Rendering
Illustration of GRACE-FO in orbit (view 5).
GRACE-FO in Orbit (View 5)
Illustration of GRACE-FO in orbit (view 3).
GRACE-FO in Orbit (View 3)
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen with the NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft onboard at Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
GRACE-FO in Falcon 9 on Launchpad
The Laser Ranging Interferometer instrument.
Laser Ranging Interferometer
GRACE-FO, a collaboration between NASA and German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on on May 22, 2018.
GRACE-FO Launches
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Early data shows the greatest net gain of water over the winter in nearly 22 years, but the state’s groundwater levels still suffer from the effects of years of drought.
US-German Satellites Show California Water Gains After Record Winter
Scientists have predicted that droughts and floods will become more frequent and severe as our planet warms and climate changes, but detecting this on regional and continental scales has proven difficult. Now a new NASA-led study confirms that major droughts and pluvials – periods of excessive precipitation and water storage on land – have indeed been occurring more often.
Warming Makes Droughts, Extreme Wet Events More Frequent, Intense
In a recent study, scientists found that a previously unmeasured source – water percolating through soil and fractured rock below California’s Sierra Nevada mountains – delivers an average of 4 million acre feet (5 cubic kilometers) of water to the state’s Central Valley each year. This underground source accounts for about 10% of all the water that enters this highly productive farmland each year from every source (including river inflows and precipitation).
NASA Measures Underground Water Flowing From Sierra to Central Valley
Researchers have untangled puzzling patterns of sinking and rising land to pin down the underground locations where water is being pumped for irrigation.
NASA Finds New Way to Monitor Underground Water Loss
Decades of drought across the U.S. Southwest has led some scientists to classify the intense, prolonged dryness as a “megadrought.” But drought in North America took a different shape in 2021, affecting areas that do not face long-term or intense drought as often. The northern Great Plains has been coping with drought for months.
Drought in the Northern Great Plains
Focusing on the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions, the award cites the “outstanding leadership of the international consortium in the planning and implementation of the successful Earth gravity missions.”
International Cooperation Award for NASA JPL's Michael Watkins, Michael Gross