Discover MARE! A project to optimize water management using satellite technology

Earth Observation is a key tool in sectors such as agriculture, providing accurate information to optimize processes and support data-driven decision-making.

The MARE project, developed by the company isardSAT, has created an innovative methodology using satellite data to deliver a comprehensive view of drought conditions and crop water needs. The project has focused on the irrigation communities of Aigües Segarra-Garrigues and Terra Alta, with the aim of optimizing agricultural irrigation and ensuring efficient water resource management.

Using data collected since 2015 by NASA’s SMAP and Landsat satellites, and new algorithms developed by isardSAT, MARE has created maps showing a new drought index and weekly estimates of soil moisture in agricultural areas.

These maps, with a innovative resolution of 100 meters, make it possible to anticipate water availability for crops and assess soil moisture levels compared to the 10-year historical average (to determine whether it is drier or wetter), on a weekly basis. This information is essential for maximizing water use efficiency and supporting evidence-based decision-making.

The project was part of the first ‘Earth Observation Use Case Ideas Competition for the Private Sector’, coordinated by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) in collaboration with the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC). This initiative is framed within Catalonia’s NewSpace Strategy, promoted by the Government of Catalonia and implemented in collaboration with the IEEC, ICGC, and the i2CAT Foundation.

One of the project’s highlights has been the integration of data from Menut, Catalonia’s second nanosatellite, launched into orbit in January 2023 under the NewSpace Strategy. Menut’s data has been combined with that of the Sentinel-3 Earth Observation satellite — part of the European Union’s Copernicus programme — which provides land surface temperature maps at a 1 km resolution.

The combination of Menut and Sentinel-3 data, along with artificial intelligence techniques, has enabled the generation of soil temperature and moisture maps at a groundbreaking resolution of 5 meters (see image). This enhancement provides a precise view of the water status at the plot scale, detecting moisture differences between cultivated fields and surrounding paths, in order to optimize water resource management.

Projects like MARE demonstrate the potential of NewSpace technologies to open up new perspectives for drought monitoring and management, allowing farmers and water managers to adopt more efficient and sustainable solutions in the face of climate change challenges.

The MARE project allows you to explore weekly drought data from April 2015 to 2023: