GEOSS ADC Architecture Workshop Water/Drought Scenario 5 Feb 2008 David Arctur OGC Interoperability Institute

Drought Monitoring and Response Drought: an increasingly damaging phenomena –Growing population & agricultural stresses on surface & groundwater –Reduced snow and glacier reservoirs Complex phenomena –Defined across many time scales, impacting many economic sectors –Sea surface temperatures (SST), winds, land cover, many other factors Scenario objectives –Monitor & forecast drought indicators –Assess water and drought conditions and impacts –Plan for mitigation –Carry out response strategy –Consider and address multi-disciplinary and cross-border institutional communications and coordination 2

Actors Consumers –Residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural Local officials –City managers, county managers Agency officials and staff –State Natural Resource Department decision/policy makers –State and Federal agency water managers –(USA) Army Corps of Engineers GEOSS portal integrator 3

Information available before scenario - 1 Example regions of interest –Near-term: Southeastern USA (NIDIS data and capabilities) –Longer-term: Pacific Basin (Americas, Australia, Pacific Islands) 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 4

Information available before scenario - 2 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 5

Specific processing capabilities Monthly and seasonal forecasting of temperatures and precipitation; anomalies (greater/lesser than normal) 12 months in advance (example source: NWS Climate Prediction Center) Assessment of current water conditions (precipitation, ground water, USDM indices, water monitor network, many products) Drought 3-month outlook (USDM subjectively derived) Drought impacts monitoring system with impacts database, 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, Army Corps of Engineers may respond to triggers 6

GUI development, GEOSS portal integration Data discovery tools: portal (GUI) & clearinghouse (harvester) –For community data sources (metadata) to be harvestable, metadata server needs to support CSW –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 user to remote server –Integration with OPeNDAP should be considered Data viewer 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 7

Institutional coordination WMO, CEOS, IGOS/IGWCO, GCOS, GEWEX NIDIS (US National Integrated Drought Information System) NADM, USDM (N.American/US Drought Monitor) FEWS (Famine Early Warning Sysem) Drought Management Center of Southeastern Europe HARON (Hydrological Applications and Run-Off Network) NCAR (US National Center for Atmospheric Research) Plus many others as potential collaborators – see National Drought Mitigation Center International Activities 8

Required Areas of Expertise –Drought Monitoring –Forecasting –Impacts Monitoring and Assessment Near-term Priorities –Develop a Task within the GEO Work Plan –Summer 08: Convene a meeting of technical leadership to identify needs and priorities (Hosted by the IDEA Center in Hawaii) 2007 GEO Plenary and Ministerial Summit: Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) – Research – Education – Planning

Prerequisites for demonstration participation Necessary capacity at national level: Current drought monitoring capabilities and practices Observational data network activities, capabilities, and resources Drought forecasting Drought response Current potential level of participation in global network What is needed for them to reach their desired level of participation –May have different levels of participation depending on variations in countries capabilities and desires 10

Next Steps Work with likely participants to identify case studies –NIDIS Portal team working on Southeast US drought response (near term) –Broader drought science community trying to build capacity among developing countries & islands in Pacific Basin to support DEWS (longer term) –Others…? 11