page_title: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System
section_title: Observations over Land
hierarchical_section_title: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System / Observations over Land
caption_attribution_description: English: CYGNSS measurements of land surface scattering for the month of December 2017. Changes in soil moisture and the extent of inland waterways affect the measurements.
context_page_description: The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System is a space-based system developed by the University of Michigan and Southwest Research Institute with the aim of improving hurricane forecasting by better understanding the interactions between the sea and the air near the core of a storm.
  In June 2012, NASA sponsored the project for $152 million with the University of Michigan leading its development. Other participants in CYGNSS' development include the Southwest Research Institute, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and Surrey Satellite Technology.
  The plan was to build a constellation of eight micro-satellites to be launched simultaneously in a single launch vehicle into low Earth orbit, at 500 km altitude. The program was scheduled to launch December 12, 2016, and then observe two hurricane seasons. Problems with a pump on the launching aircraft prevented this first launch, but a second launch attempt took place successfully on December 15, 2016.
context_section_description: CYGNSS operates continuously, over both ocean and land, and the land measurements also contain useful information. The measurements are sensitive to surface soil moisture and to the presence and extent of inland water bodies. Soil moisture has been estimated using CYGNSS data at numerous sites in the continental U.S. and is found to be in close agreement with independent measurements made by ground sensors and by another satellite. Numerical data files of soil moisture measurements are available at . The ability of CYGNSS land data to detect and map the extent of flood inundation under dense forest canopies has also been demonstrated and this capability has been used to produce time lapse images of flooding in and around Houston and Havana after landfalls by Hurricanes Maria and Irma, respectively.
caption: CYGNSS measurements of land surface scattering for the month of December 2017. Changes in soil moisture and the extent of inland waterways affect the measurements.
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