Last week, Research Leader Dean Meason worked with The University of Auckland colleagues installing Massachusetts Institute of Technology / USC SoilSCAPE wireless soil moisture sensors (https://soilscape.usc.edu/) at Riverhead Forest for the Rongowai programme (https://lnkd.in/guFzG7rB). This programme, led by Dr. Delwyn Moller, is working with NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System) mission (https://lnkd.in/gixiXD3k), Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and Air New Zealand to collect remote sensing data to better predict severe storms, as well as enabling new climate change research in New Zealand. It overlaps with MBIE's Endeavour's Forest Flows programme as Rongowai requires ground truth soil moisture data from different land uses, including planted forests, and understanding of soil water dyanmics. This is a great demonstration of cutting-edge, international research being done in Aotearoa. Shout out to Xiaoyou Lin, Darren Chew, and Felix Marattukalam for a great day out of the office.