The overall project goal is to determine new ways to use remote-sensing satellites to determine if plants in U.S. Corn Belt agricultural ecosystems are “happy,” that is, they have adequate soil water to photosynthesize and do what crops are supposed to do, which is to serve humans by producing one of the five “F’s:” food, feed for cattle, fiber, fuel, or fossil-fuel replacements. Furthermore, “unhappy” plants do not transpire as much as “happy” plants, and this will decrease the amount of water that moves from the soil into the atmosphere.
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