Theme: Agriculture

Text, Viewspace. Coming up, Explore Our Atmosphere with NASA satellites. A countdown clock counts down when the show will continue. The clocks starts at 15 seconds and ticks down to 0 seconds. Then the screen turns black.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Collage of distinct satellite images of natural phenomena.

 

Text, where on earth?

 

What is forming the checkered pattern in this image? Satellite image, water with organized dark lines. Text, A, oyster reefs in Mexico, B, garbage barges in Japan, C, fishing boats in Malaysia, D, seaweed farms in South Korea.

 

D is highlighted, seaweed farms in South Korea. Labels appear on map.

 

Text, Seaweed Farms in South Korea. Along the south coast of South Korea, seaweed is often grown on ropes which are held near the surface with buoys. This technique ensures that the seaweed gets enough light but doesn't scrape against the bottom during low tide. Images, nets of seaweed in ocean. Pieces of sushi.

 

Text, seaweed plays an important role in Korean, Cantonese, Japanese, and other cuisines. Globally, more than 90% of seaweed is grown on farms.

 

Seaweed farming has a relatively light environmental footprint because it does not require fresh water or fertilizer.

 

Operational Land Imager, Landsat 8.

 

The map recedes until we have the whole Earth before us . Text, Music courtesy of Yesh Music A S C A P .

 

Where on earth?

 
(DESCRIPTION)

Text, WORLD of CHANGE

 

(SPEECH)

[GENTLE MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

A globe spins.

 

Text, Seasons of the Indus River Valley

 

Green patchwork farmland in a long valley.

 

Text, Seasons of the Indus River Valley, Pakistan. WORLD of CHANGE 2009-2010. The Indus River has supported agriculture in Pakistan and India for thousands of years.

 

Flowing south from the Himalayas, through Pakistan, and emptying into the Arabian Sea, the Indus is one of the longest rivers in Asia.

 

Aerial view of the river valley through Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

 

Text, Fed by snowmelt, glaciers, and monsoon rains, the water level in the river fluctuates throughout the year.

 

During the wet season, farmers flood their fields to grow rice and other crops that need abundant water. During the drier season, they use water stored behind the river's dams to irrigate their fields and grow crops such as corn and wheat.

 

A series of images from the Landsat 5 satellite shows how a segment of the river in central Pakistan changes during the year. Fields are green when active, and brown when fallow. Notice the two distinct growing periods, in July-August and January-February.

 

Satellite image of area around the Indus River labeled GUDDU. An area to the side of the river is green. It borders the Guddu dam and canal. An area of fields to the north is brown. Beginning in June, the fields around the river begin to turn green. By September, almost the entire area is dark green.

 

In October, the fields become more brown. By January, they become dark greenish bluish.

 

In mid February, the entire area is dark green. By April, almost the entire area is brown.

 

In June, almost the entire area around the Guddu dam and canal is light brown.

 

Four side-by-side pictures of the area from September, 2009, December, 2009, April 2010, and June, 2010 change from dark green to pale brown.

(DESCRIPTION)

Text, did you know? Farming by satellite.

 

(SPEECH)

[GENTLE MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Satellites are important tools for farmers. Image, satellite orbits in night sky. Text, Remote sensing with satellites and aircraft allows farmers to survey large tracts of land relatively quickly and inexpensively.

 

The satellite scans the ground. Image, countless green and brown squares of farmlands outside of the city of Fargo. Red River and Buffalo River. Text, monitoring crop and soil health is a critical aspect of farming. North Dakota and Minnesota.

 

Legend appears. Dark greens, crops like wheat, soybeans, and corn. Light brown, harvested fields.

 

The image through a red filter. Text, Sensors on satellites, airplanes, and drones detect various types of light given off or reflected by the vegetation and soil.

 

The color and brightness of light provides information about how much moisture is in the soil, which types of plants are growing, and how mature or healthy the crops are.

 

The red filter disappears. Text, Farmers can use images from satellites and aircraft to identify fields that are too dry or to wet, crops that are healthy or diseased, and areas where fertilizer, irrigation, or other measures would be most effective.

 

Images, water deficit map, red, dry, crop density map, blue, lush vegetation, crop stress map, red, serious stress.

(DESCRIPTION)

Text, Agricultural Field Patterns. Orchards, Farms, fields, and pastures cover an area on Earth more than twice that of North America. From space, agricultural land is easily recognizable by the regular patterns of fields, crop Rose, tracks, and irrigation systems.

 

(SPEECH)

[SOFT MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Animation of a globe. A white circle on the state of Minnesota.

 

Text, Southwestern Minnesota, USA

 

East Branch Kanarazi Creek and Rushmore

 

Neat squares - bound by roads running north-south and east-west - are typical of the relatively flat farmland of the American Midwest. The pattern is a result of 18th and 19th century surveying practices and later, road-building. Land is divided into perfect one-mile sections. Each section is subdivided by tracks, streams, and crop boundaries.

 

Animation of a globe. A white circle on the state of Kansas.

 

Kansas, USA. U.S. Route 83. In other parts of the Midwest, circles and semi-circles fill the grid. This pattern is a result of center-pivot irrigation systems. Groundwater is drawn up from the well in the center of the field, and fed through a hose attached to a metal frame. Water sprays out as the frame pivots around the center.

 

Animation of a globe. A white circle on Germany.

 

Northwestern Germany. Sudlohn, Weseke, Ramsdor. In northwestern Germany, the patchwork of small fields is a relic of farming practices dating back to the Middle Ages. Large Fields were divided into strips, which were formed by serfs or peasant families. Villages in this region also date back to medieval times.

 

Animation of a globe. A white circle on Thailand.

 

Bangkok, Thailand. Rangsit Canal. North of Bangkok, Thailand, small, rectangular rice paddies form a hatchwork pattern. The fields are separated by a network of irrigation canals bordered by roads and dirt paths. Fields that appear in deep purple are being flooded as part of the growing cycle.

 

Animation of a globe. A white circle on Bolivia.

 

Central Bolivia.

 

Nucleo

 

The radial, pie-shaped patterns of maize, sunflower, and soybean fields near San Julian, Bolivia, are part of a planned settlement in the rainforest. At the center of each pie is a nucleo, a small community with a school, church, bar, and soccer field. Between each group of radial fields is a rainforest that has not yet been cleared.

 

Animation of a globe. A white circle on Brazil.

 

South-central Brazil. Cloud, Shadow, Apore River

 

The enormous farms and large fields in the woodland-savanna region known as the cerradoin south-central Brazil or a result of relatively flat topography, reliable rainfall, and low cost of land. Such large-scale farming has also required significant investment and things like Machinery, application of soil conditioners to reduce the acidity, and breeding of new varieties of crops to withstand tropical climates.

 

Six different field patterns. Text, Field patterns differ from place to place to place on Earth's surface. Agricultural practices are influenced by topography, climate, soil type, crop type, economics, and local history and tradition.

(SPEECH)

[GENTLE MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Various landscapes. Text, Where On Earth?

 

An off-white landscape with green rectangles. Text, What are these green rectangles?

 

A. Rice paddies in Viet Nam. B. Vegetable gardens in Italy. C. Shrimp pods in Honduras. D. Horse pastures in New Zealand.

 

Highlight on C, Shrimp pods in Honduras

 

Shrimp Ponds in Choluteca, Honduras. The aquaculture industry on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and Honduras has produced bountiful harvests of shrimp. Algae growing in the water gives active shrimp ponds a green color. When drained, dry ponds are grey or brown.

 

Until the late 1990s, shrimp farmers harvested during both the rainy season and the dry season. But by the early 2000s, farmers realized that it is more economical to drain ponds during the dry season when water quality is low.

 

Lines on a map indicate locations of drained shrimp ponds

 

Text, Draining ponds allows sunlight and wind to break down algae and fish waste and reduce disease-carrying organisms, improving water quality.

 

From Honduras to the Earth as a whole. Text, Music courtesy of Yesh Music (ASCAP)

 

Various landscapes. Where On Earth?

 
(DESCRIPTION)

Lush green ground, brownish green ground. Text, Before & After, Irrigation in Saudi Arabia

 

(SPEECH)

[SOFT MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Animation of a globe. Text, The Arabian peninsula is dominated by desert. Its average temperature is above 85 degrees F for most of the year, and can reach higher than 120 degree F during the summer months. Most areas receive less than four inches of rain per year. Wadi As-Sirhan Basin

 

Wadi As-Sirhan Basin, Saudi Arabia. February, 1987. Thematic Mapper, Landsat 5. Wadi As-Sirhan Basin, in northern Saudi Arabia, is located in the Arabian desert. In this infrared and visible light image, dry barren desert is shown in pink and yellow.

 

This hot, dry climate may not seem ideal for agriculture.

 

However, although surface water is scarce, ground water exists in the rock below the surface.

 

February, 1991. Thematic Mapper, Landsat 4. Since the 1980s, drilling through the bedrock to the groundwater reservoirs has allowed agriculture to flourish in the region.

 

An irrigation system in Egypt. Text, Center-pivot irrigation systems efficiently distribute the groundwater to circular fields. Each field is about one kilometer (0.6 miles) across.

 

March, 2000. Thematic Mapper, Landsat 5. The addition of water allows plants to thrive. Increasing groundwater pumping is shown by the spread of the distinctive circular fields.

 

January, 2012. Thematic Mapper +, Landsat 7. The groundwater in this region is about 20000 years old, and it's Supply is limited. The low rainfall can replenish only about 10% of the water used by farming. As a result, these irrigation practices are depleting the groundwater reservoir.

 

Photos compare a field in 1987, 1991, 2000 and 2012. Eventually, these fields may be reclaimed by the desert as the aquifer runs dry.

(DESCRIPTION)

Text, WORLD of CHANGE

 

(SPEECH)

[GENTLE MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

A globe spins.

 

Text, The Shrinking Aral Sea

 

A black and white view of the Aral Sea from the sky.

 

Text, Aral Sea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. WORLD of CHANGE 2000-2017. The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest lake in the world.

 

The sea straddles the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

 

Text, In the 1960s, the Soviet Union began diverting water from the two major rivers that feed the lake. The water was used to transform the desert into farms for cotton and other crops.

 

The Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers flow from the sea.

 

An old boat sits in a shallow area of muddy water.

 

Text, Although irrigation made the desert bloom, it devastated the Aral Sea and the communities that depended on it. Fertilizers, pesticides, and other agricultural chemicals have contaminated both the water and the surrounding soil.

 

A dry desert area filled with small shrubs.

 

Text, The loss of such a large body of water has also changed the regional climate. Winters are colder and summers are hotter and drier.

 

This series of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite documents the changes.

 

Image of the sea in green surrounded by land in brown.

 

Starting in 2000, as each year passes, the lake becomes a lighter green and shrinks in size. It is far smaller than an outline that shows the lake shore from the 1960s.

 

By 2009, the largest portion of the lake has dried up. In following years it becomes slightly green again.

 

It dries up again in 2014 and becomes slightly green again in following years.

 

The final image is from 2017. The lake has shrunk considerably and is a paler shade of green. Side-by-side comparisons of August, 2000 and August, 2017.

(DESCRIPTION)

Farmland near a river.

 

(SPEECH)

[GENTLE MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Text, The Floating Gardens of MYANMAR

 

The globe, seen centered on Myanmar.

 

Text, Inle Lake, in central Myanmar (Burma), is the second-largest lake in the country.

 

We see the lake from above. It spreads long from north to south. It narrows in the south.

 

Text, But the exact area of the lake is difficult to measure. From space, the size and shape of the lake seem clear. But in fact, the lake is much larger than it appears.

 

A small area inside the lake is outlined, then the larger area of the lake is outlined and labeled ACTUAL SHORELINE OF INLE LAKE. The interior outlined portion is labeled OPEN WATER.

 

Text, The actual shoreline lies far from the open water.

 

The area between the open water and actual shoreline is highlighted in red and labeled FLOATING ISLAND AGRICULTURE.

 

Text, A unique system of agriculture on the lake makes the boundary between land and water difficult to identify.

 

Water hyacinth grows on the water surface.

 

Text, Inle Lake is an ideal habitat for water hyacinth, a fast-growing plant that is considered a pest in many areas. Water hyacinth can completely cover the surface of a lake, blocking boat traffic.

 

A purple and white water hyacinth flower among green foliage.

 

Text, The roots of the plant grow so tightly together that they capture sediment and other debris. Eventually, they become so thick--more than three feet--that they can support a great deal of weight.

 

A man stands on a jumble of vegetation on the water. Behind him lie a farm and buildings.

 

A man stands on vegetation interspersed with bamboo poles.

 

Text, Farmers on Inle Lake cut the hyacinth islands into strips, tow them to a central location, and secure them to bamboo poles so they don't float away. Then they cover the floating strips with soil and plant seeds on them.

 

Strips of floating gardens in the lake.

 

A man stands on a low boat among the gardens.

 

Text, These floating gardens cover about 25% of the lake surface, producing tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, gourds, flowers, and other crops that drive the region's economy.

 

A woman stands amid piles of green and red tomatoes in a storehouse. Many rows of floating gardens along the edges of the lake.