Remote Sensing of Groundwater -- Wow!!

The NASA-led team used the 40-megahertz airborne sounding radar prototype to probe the desert subsurface above the Umm-El-Aish aquifer in northern Kuwait, creating this high-resolution cross section of the aquifer. The radargram shows variations in the depth of the water table from 161 to 171 feet (49 to 52 meters). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. (Geology.com) 

Wow! NASA, ESA, and Italian space agency scientists have developed a low frequency radar technology that can penetrate a planet's crust in order to map aquifers of liquid water. Currently, this technology is being used to map the Martian subsurface to a depth approaching 2km. So far, only water ice has been detected. However, the same technology has been used to map fossil, or ancient, aquifers in the Kuwaiti desert. The societal implications of this technology are far-reaching, as groundwater prospecting promises to become much more lucrative as global population increases, especially in those arid areas bordered, or contained, within deserts.

Whether or not this technology gains widespread use here on earth, the results from the Kuwaiti aquifer survey will help scientists enhance their interpretation of Martian subsurface data. Great stuff!