Quench
Colorado's Open Soil Moisture Platform
One place to explore real-time soil moisture and weather data from across Colorado.
Quench brings together soil moisture and weather information from networks across Colorado, giving users a clear, accessible picture of what’s happening on the ground. Whether you’re a producer, water manager, fire agency, researcher, or policymaker, Quench offers tools to track changing conditions and support better decisions.
Quench is developed by and hosted in partnership with the Colorado State University Department of Computer Science Center for Exascale Spatial Data Analytics and Computing, working closely with IN-RICHES.
What Quench Does
Quench turns disconnected datasets into a unified view of soil moisture conditions across the state.
With just a few clicks, you can:
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View real-time soil moisture from multiple partner networks
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Explore historical trends to see how conditions are changing over time
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COMING SOON! Overlay drought information (e.g., U.S. Drought Monitor)
All of this happens through a web-based interface designed to be intuitive, fast, and accessible from laptops, tablets, and smart phones.
By connecting multiple networks into a single, open platform, Quench improves access to high-quality soil moisture information and helps spur the research and innovation needed to strengthen Colorado’s drought resilience. Quench is continually updated as Colorado’s monitoring network grows. A new Colorado Water Plan Grant will enable the next set of major enhancements, including:
NASA SMAP satellite soil moisture integration
U.S. Drought Monitor Overlays
Inter-and intra-basin comparison tools
How is soil moisture reported?
In Quench, soil moisture is reported for various depth increments as soil moisture percent or volumetric water content (VWC).
What is Volumetric Water Content (VWC)?
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Volumetric Water Content (VWC) is the standard way soil moisture is reported in this tool. It describes how much water is present in a given volume of soil, expressed as cubic meters of water per cubic meter of soil (m³/m³).
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For example, a reading of 0.32 m³/m³ means that about one-third of the soil’s volume is water, with the rest made up of soil particles and air. VWC can also be represented as a percentage (ex. 0.32 m³/m³ = 32% soil moisture).
It’s important to note that the same soil moisture percent or VWC value can mean different things in different soils. Clay, loam, and sandy soils hold water differently, so a value like 0.35 m³/m³ may indicate saturated conditions in one soil but not another.
How-To
Resources
These short tutorials walk you through some of the most useful tools in Quench, Colorado’s open soil moisture platform. Each video demonstrates real examples so you can quickly learn how to navigate, interpret, and make the most of the data.
