Plants “glowing” from space could help predict flash droughts up to three months early.

NASA satellites detect solar-induced fluorescence, a faint glow given off from plants. The glow can signal a loss of soil moisture that begins in the weeks and months before flash droughts.

For this reason, plant fluorescence “shows promise as a reliable early warning indicator of flash drought with enough lead time to take action,” said Nicholas Parazoo, an Earth scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of the recent study.