Professor Dara Entekhabi said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite will also obtain freeze-thaw measurements -- all data essential to the accuracy of weather forecasts and predictions of global carbon cycle and climate.

At present, scientists have no network for gathering soil moisture data as they do for rainfall, winds, humidity and temperature, Entekhabi said. Instead, that data is gathered only at a few scattered points around the world.

"Soil moisture is the lynch pin of the water, energy and carbon cycles over land," said Entekhabi. "It is the variable that links these three cycles through its control on evaporation and plant transpiration. Global monitoring of this variable will allow a new perspective on how these three cycles work and vary together in the Earth system."

NASA's Soil Moisture Active-Passive mission is scheduled to be launched in December 2012.