NASA’s new web portal reveals ground movements across North America with precision that captures tiny shifts smaller than an inch, reported NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
This tool helps people monitor the Earth’s movements, whether caused by natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic activity or human activities such as the extraction of underground resources.
By converting complex satellite radar signals into user-friendly visual maps, NASA has made what was once specialist knowledge available to everyday users.
The project comes from NASA’s Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis team working with the Alaska Satellite Facility. They’ve created a program that handles satellite information collected since 2014, with plans to include new data from another space mission launching this year.
“You can zoom in to your country, your state, your city block, and look at how the land there is moving over time,” said David Bekaert, OPERA project manager and radar scientist. “You can see that by a simple mouse click.”
Right now, you can explore data for areas such as the American Southwest, parts of Mexico’s northern region, and greater New York. The portal displays information for millions of spots on the map. When you click anywhere, you’ll see a chart showing that location’s movement history back to 2016.
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Water experts have already started using this mapping tool. Take Arizona, where tracking the gradual sinking of land helps manage precious groundwater supplies.
“It’s a great tool to say, ‘Let’s look at those areas more intensely with our own SAR processing,'” said Brian Conway, principal hydrogeologist at the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
The technology works by bouncing radar signals off Earth’s surface from satellites. When these signals return, special computer programs analyze them to determine if the land is rising or sinking. What once took specialists many days to calculate now happens automatically within seconds.
NASA plans to roll out coverage beyond its current regions. According to its timeline, people across North America will gain access as the map grows to include all U.S. states, neighboring areas in Canada, and countries throughout Central America before 2026 arrives.
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