These predictions, too, will benefit from adding more and more sources of data, including soil moisture, which can help predict tree falls.

Plants make up the difference from soil moisture but, with little to spare, lawns crack, river flows fall low and many crops need irrigation.

And yet our global soil moisture data has in the past been spotty at best.

Our findings are consistent with previous field studies showing that soil moisture can control dust emissions by modulating vegetation cover and soil stability.

Sensors under and around the pitch measuring things like soil moisture and humidity allowed him to work from home some days even before the pandemic began.