This is a session of a GEOSS Architecture Workshop

A Presentation provided the topics for discussion for this session.

Results of the session are in this presentation.

Drought Monitoring and Response

1. Summary

Drought is an increasingly damaging phenomena as population and agricultural pressures draw down groundwater supplies. It is also complex, defined across many time scales, impacting many economic sectors, and involving broad weather patterns affected by ocean surface temperatures, winds, and many other factors. This scenario involves monitoring known indicators of drought, assessing the information collected, evaluating options for mitigation, and carrying out response and mitigation activities. As regions of the world and major watersheds that are susceptible to drought often cross national and sub-national boundaries, institutional collaboration and cooperation is essential for effective preparedness and response. National drought monitoring and early-warning programs have been started in a number of countries, but these are as yet sparse and disconnected. The goal of this scenario is to identify and demonstrate the informatics requirements and methods for effective drought preparedness and response across national borders.

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2. Context and pre-conditions

Actors:

• Residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural users
• Local officials
• Agency officials
• Agency analysts
• GEOSS Portal integrator

Information available before scenario begins (via GEOSS portals):

• Framework geographical datasets
• Roadways, landcover, hydrography
• Locations of major agricultural production, industrial centers, and urban areas with high water resource demands
• Gazetteer and locations for built-up areas, with linked population figures
• Digital terrain/elevation model
• Orthophotography or satellite imagery
• Environmental data
• Precipitation
• Soil moisture indices
• Drought indicators
  - Palmer Indices
  - SPI (standard precipitation index)
  - VHI (vegetation health index)
  - SWSI (surface water supply index)
• Snow water content and snow depth
• Streamflow, lake and reservoir levels, and groundwater status
• Soil and air temperature
• Humidity
• Wind speed and direction
• Solar radiation
• Documented impacts on human and natural systems
• Single-sector outputs such as agricultural yields
• Multi-sector impacts such as those affecting water demands, wildfire risks, and recreation

Specific processing:

• Monthly and seasonal forecasting of temperatures and precipitation, and anomalies (greater/lesser than normal) 12 months in advance 
  - Example source: US National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center
• Assessment of current water conditions
  - Precipitation, ground water, US Drought Monitor indices, water monitor network (many products to assess)
• Drought 3-month outlook (US Drought Monitor subjectively derived on a regional basis)
• Drought impacts monitoring, with results stored in an impacts database, and having analysis tools and practices
• Determination of drought triggers: threshold values of an indicator that distinguish drought magnitude and determine when management actions should begin and end
  - PDI or USDM triggers result in actions taken by state and local managers; generally locally/regionally determined, not national
  - In the US, the Army Corps of Engineers may respond to triggers

GUI development and GEOSS portal integration:

• Data discovery tools: portal (GUI) and clearinghouse (harvester)
  - For community data sources (metadata) to be harvestable, metadata server needs to support CSW spec
  - If community data sources support standard WMS, WCS, WFS, SOS, etc. services, the portal can preview and access the actual datasets, otherwise it will simply refer the user to the remote server
• Data view client: within the portal, Google Earth, etc.
• Drought research community "adopts" the portal
  - Community- managed web UI -- wiki, journals, pre-defined and derived maps
  - Build and save projects; add new data as it emerges
  - Help support cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary applications

Institutional coordination:

• WMO, CEOS, IGOS/IGWCO, GCOS, GEWEX
• USA NIDIS (National Integrated Drought Information System)
• NADM, USDM (N.American/US Drought Monitor)
• FEWS (Famine Early Warning System)
• Hydrological Applications and Run-Off Network (HARON)
• Drought Management Center of Southeastern Europe
• NCAR (US National Center for Atmospheric Research)
• Plus many others as potential collaborators -- see National Drought Mitigation Center's International Activities

3. Scenario Events

4. Supporting Documents and Data Sources

1. US NIDIS Portal, http://www.drought.gov
2. US NIDIS, The National Integrated Drought Information System Implementation Plan, June 2007,
   http://www.drought.gov/pdf/NIDIS-IPFinal-June07.pdf
3. US NIDIS, Managing Drought: A roadmap for change in the United States, July 2007, http://geosociety.org/meetings/06drought/roadmap.pdf
4. IGWCO, Conceptual Framework for a Hydrological Applications and Run-Off Network (HARON), March 2007, http://www.gewex.org/IGWCO/9.4_IGWCO_HARON.pdf
5. UN FAO, Water Development and Management Unit: Information Resources, http://www.fao.org/nr/water/infores_databases_climwat.html

5. Coordination with other GEOSS tasks

• WA-08-01 - Integration of In-situ and Satellite Data for Water Cycle Monitoring

• GEO UIC coordination?