1 NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center NIDIS CRN Soil Moisture Workshop Oak Ridge, TN The NIDIS & The U.S. Drought Portal: An Overview .

1NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center

NIDIS CRN Soil Moisture WorkshopOak Ridge, TN

The NIDIS & The U.S. The NIDIS & The U.S. Drought Portal: An OverviewDrought Portal: An Overview

www.drought.govwww.drought.gov

Mike Brewer

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Increased vulnerability

• Society is changing - increasing urbanization, aging populations, overdevelopment in coastal regions, and regions with limited water supply

Societal Challenges and Climate

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How We Handle Drought

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NDMC and others

How We Should Handle Drought

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NIDIS Authority

“(We) contend that we can reduce this nation’s vulnerability to the impacts of drought by making preparedness— especially drought planning, plan implementation, and proactive mitigation— the cornerstone of national drought policy..”

— National Drought Policy Commission Report, May 2000

“NIDIS should improve and expand the compilation of reliable data on the various indicators of droughts, and it should integrate and interpret that data with easily accessible and understandable tools, which provide timely and useful information to decision-makers and the general public. Western Governors believe NOAA should be designated as the federal lead for NIDIS.

— Western Governor’s Association Report, June 2004

“Characteristics of disaster-resilient communities: Relevant hazards are recognized and understood. Communities at risk know when a hazard event is imminent. Individuals at risk are safe from hazards in their homes and places of work. Communities experience minimum disruption … after a hazard event has passed.”

— National Science and Technology Council, June 2005

“Near-term opportunities identify observing systems or integration of components that meet high priority societal needs, and make improvements to inadequate existing systems that can be completed within 5 years and have tangible, measurable results.

Improved Observations for Disaster Warnings Global Land Observation System Sea Level Observation System National Integrated Drought Information System — U.S. Group on Earth Observations, September 2006 Air Quality Assessment and Forecast System Architecture and Data Management.”

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NIDIS Authority The Commerce Under Secretary, through the National Weather Service and other appropriate weather and climate programs in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, shall establish a National Integrated Drought Information System

The National Integrated Drought Information System shall:• Provide an effective drought early warning system• Coordinate, and integrate as practicable, Federal research in support of a drought early warning system• Build upon existing forecasting and assessment programs and partnerships

Washington Watch: NIDIS Cost per US Family $0.63

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NIDIS Authority

US Group on Earth Observations, 2007 Near-Term Opportunities:

– NIDIS• US Drought Portal• CRN Soil Moisture Sensors

– Air Quality– Disaster Observations

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Spot the Differences!

NIDIS USGEO NIDIS

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• GEO: Group on Earth Observations

– Intergovernmental group formed during the first Earth Observation Summit of July 31, 2003

– To develop a 10-year plan for implementing an integrated Earth Observation System

– USGEO – implements U.S. component of GEO

• Framework for the system of systems

– Adopted by ministers from 43 nations at Earth Observation Summit II in Tokyo in April 2004

• GEOSS: Global Earth Observation System of Systems

– 10-Year Implementation Plan for GEOSS adopted by ~ 60 Nations at Earth Observations Summit III in Brussels in February 2005

Drought Early Warning SystemLaying The Groundwork

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• GEO mandate is to develop a system of systems from disparate and uncoordinated activities

– Address critical global environmental issues such as drought

• A Drought Early Warning System requires a GEO commitment

– Operational responsibilities

– Research collaboration for developing new monitoring, analysis, and forecasting technologies

Many nations have important components of a drought early warning system. No one nation has all the tools, products, and data to deliver the best system.

Drought Early Warning SystemHow GEO Can Aid This Effort

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Preparedness: Historical information used to minimize drought related risk (examples)

• Allow planners and policy makers to develop optimal procedures and associated actions from drought impacts

Response: Drought occurs somewhere on the planet every year & can persist for years.

• System will provide the quantitative information necessary for timely and measured response

Mitigation: A myriad of problems stem from drought. (examples)

• Water supply, water quality, agriculture, energy production, fire, human health, etc.

• Information for planning mitigations supported by a comprehensive analysis of drought severity

Recovery: Critical drought information• Enables countries to access more comprehensive tools and

observations for emergency managers and planners

Water Supply and Energy

Agriculture

Fire

Drought Early Warning System Benefits

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Description: An early warning of international drought conditions for water management, agriculture, human health, energy as related to drought preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery

Importance: A system of systems will weave together current and future global drought related observations and data management systems:

• to take on the growing worldwide threat of drought• for global data & information sharing, communication, & capacity building• to mitigate annual losses due to drought estimated in the U.S. alone at $6-8 billion

Why Now: IPCC projects increases in the frequency & intensity of drought due to climate change. Population pressures on existing water resources are expected to continue.

Drought Early Warning System

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• The U.S. proposes to lead the development of an International Drought Early Warning System that will:

– present needed information for drought response, planning, mitigation, and recovery

– support the capability to provide data and information required for local, national, and regional decisions on drought

– aid local, national , and regional decisions regarding human and environmental health and welfare during drought

North American Drought MonitorConcept to be expanded internationally

Drought Early Warning System

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NIDIS: An integrated, interagency national drought monitoring and forecasting system that provides:

• An early warning & forecast system for drought.• Drought impact and causation education.• Information for drought mitigation.• An interactive, web-based drought portal.• Improved observational capabilities.

NIDIS Builds Upon Collaborative Successes!

What is NIDIS?

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How Can Drought Information Be Delivered Effectively?

One-stop shop for up-to-date drought information.

Predictive services for the wildland-urban interface.

Better demand data.

Data at the county level-Climate Divisions are not good enough.

Reliant on data from multiple agencies in real time.

Situational awareness

Clearinghouse for information – don’t abandon links!

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U.S. Drought Portal

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U.S. Drought Portal – Partner Information

OGC compliant Web Mapping Services for specific products.

Customization based on a subset of full Map Viewer functionality

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U.S. Drought Portal – Information

Taking advantage of existing services including Google Gadgets.

Customizable USDM statistics for various spatial and time scales.

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U.S. Drought Portal – Navigation

Persistent Navigation – No drop down menus

Links to information

Floating Column Width

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U.S. Drought Portal – Map Viewer

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U.S. Drought Portal – State Level

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Immediate future development in the USDP will be aimed at:• Spinning up regional pilot activities and regional depiction

of drought

• Working with GEO to begin addressing global and international drought monitoring and forecasting

USDP Moving Forward: Scales

• What tools are currently in place that we can leverage in the SE US and the upper Colorado Basin for purposes of mitigation of impacts and adaptation?

• Are tools applicable to local/regional level or are they transferable nationwide?

• Who are the key local/regional players?

• What else have we missed?

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The USDP is looking for partners to contribute the following four types of information (in priority order):

• Web Mapping Services (WMS) that meet the standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) 1.0 or higher.

• Drought-related maps and web sites that are regularly updated and can be rendered in a USDP portlet.

• Drought-related maps and web sites that are regularly updated and can be made available only as a stand-alone page.

• Non-regularly issued reports related to drought, of a non-time sensitive nature.

USDP Moving Forward: Call for Content

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NIDIS Pilots

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Assessment study of monitoring gaps • Gather and synthesize information from observation

network operators like USGS, NRCS, NOAA, etc.

• Identify unmet needs for drought early warning

• Provide the basis for initiatives to strengthen and enhance monitoring in support of drought early warning

Upper Colorado Pilot

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NIDIS Desired Products From CRN

• Maps of soil moisture/temperature and anomalies• Verification of existing soil moisture from models including LDAS• Surface energy budgets• Timing of spring runoff • Merge with other SM/ST networks for a sub-national analysis

USDA SCAN

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Relevancy?

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Contact

• [email protected]