This is Scientific American 60 Second Science.

I'm Cynthia Graber.

Got a minute?

Want to know where and when the next major river flood will hit?

Just look up to the satellites. Conventional estimates of

river volume come from rainfall of course and from measurement of the water that

seeps from soil and groundwater reserves. But NASA's gray satellites for

gravity, recovery, and Climate Experiment can pick up changes in the gravity field in a given river basin.

The more water in the basin, the higher the gravity signal.

Scientists used Grace results from 2003 to 2012 to see if they could have

predicted the 500-year flooding event in the Missouri River Basin in 2011.

Proceeding the flood were two significant storms, record snow melt, saturated soils, and particularly high groundwater.

With Grace data, the researchers found that they could have predicted the Missouri

river floods months before current prediction models.

They say that the technique could be used to forecast floods up to 11 months before such events take place in areas where snow melt or groundwater is a significant contribution.

The research was published in the journal Nature Geo Science.

Snowmelt and major rainstorms are predicted to increase with climate change, which puts a premium

on better flood prediction.

Thanks for the minute.

For Scientific American 60 Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber.