Bhatara Katong Gage: Bhatara Katong.

NASA launches Earth-observing satellite on third try...continuedEventually, such information will help predict floods, drought, famine, crop yields, weather and climate change."This water in the soil is a cog between three important cycles in the Earth system--the water cycle, the carbon cycle and the energy cycle," Entin said.Researchers will be able to fill in many details about the solar energy involved in evaporation and movement of water in the atmosphere, and about how plants absorb carbon dioxide.Climate models agree that the Earth is warming, but they differ about such fundamental issues as which areas will get more precipitation and which will be drier, Entin said."Certainly the people in California would like to know: Are we the area that's getting drier, or might we be getting wetter?" he said.But there will be more pragmatic, and profound, applications for the data. Water managers will be able to make decisions about irrigation and drinking water supply, meteorologists will use the data to refine their short- and long-range predictions, and health officials maybe better able to predict mosquito-borne infection, he said.The $916-million mission was engineered to work for at least five years, although many NASA satellites have endured for far longer, Entin noted."If the satellite works on Day 1, odds are it will work for a decade or longer," Entin said.(c)2015 Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC