(Radio Iowa) – Researchers at Iowa State University are studying the water content and temperature of crops using two sets of far-away sensors, one that’s on a satellite in orbit, while the other is mounted on the International Space Station. Brian Hornbuckle, an I-S-U agronomy professor, says they ultimately want to develop an early warning system for crop stress. Thriving plants respond to sunlight by opening thousands of microscopic holes on their leaves, which also releases water vapor, a process called transpiration.

Hornbuckle says plants that are stressed heat up as they’re no longer, essentially, sweating. While corn growers who use center pivot irrigation systems might be able to take action based on this information, most Iowa farmers would have to use the data to make economic decisions about whether or not to sell the grain they have in storage. The three-year ISU project is being funded by a NASA grant of about 536-thousand dollars.