2. Group on Earth Observations XIV Plenary GEO Week 2017
Global Drought Information System (GDIS) Global Initiative
Will Pozzi, Executive Director
USA NOAA National Climate Data Center
National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)
NOAA National Climate Program US Drought Task Force

3. Presentation Topics Why Global? Global Drought Vulnerability
Water Sustainable Development Goal 6.4

4. Why Global?
Droughts can be synchronized across both Western and Eastern Hemispheres
Droughts can cover significant proportions of North America, Sub Saharan West Africa, Horn of Africa (East Africa), East Asia (particularly China), South Asia, the Philippines and Indonesia, Southern South America, and Australia
The largest Droughts can be produced by global secondary atmospheric-ocean circulations
Ninety-five percent of droughts in Eastern Australia occur during El Nino episodes (but a drought does not occur during every single El Nino)
Sahel Droughts occur during Southern Tropical Atlantic Ocean SST transients
Mediterranean droughts occur during North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) episodes
Russian droughts can occur during West Russia East Atlantic Patterns
Droughts can increase during Climate Transients
CMIP5 predicts increases in drought frequency in the future

5. The current month’s Global Drought Information System (http://www

6. Continental Drought Monitors support Higher Resolution
Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI-3) in the Global Drought Observatory of the Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI-3) in the South America Drought Observatory of the Joint Research Centre (European Commission)

7. Continental Drought Monitors support Higher Resolution
Fraction of Absorbed PAR Anomalies, a measure of water stress in vegetation

8. Drought Identification cannot be completely automated Requires Consultation among Drought Managers, Meteorologists, Hydrologists, Groundwater specialists, Agricultural Operators, and Ecologists

9. Drought Vulnerability
Like other natural hazards, drought impacts contain both a natural and a social component
Vulnerability to drought varies spatially and is determined by social factors that lead to exposure, coping mechanisms, and resilience. The social factors include number of people exposed, per capita water availability, and water use trends which change over time.

10. Water Sustainable Development Goal Target 6
Water Sustainable Development Goal Target “By 2030 substantially increase the water use efficiency across all sectors, and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity, and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.”

11. Water Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 6
Water Sustainable Development Goal Indicator “Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawals as a proportion of available freshwater resources.”

12. Two Activities involving the largest Water Withdrawal
Agriculture
Energy Power Plant Cooling Water

13. Activity involving the largest Water Consumption
Agriculture
Note: Water consumption in the energy sector is no larger than energy consumption in the other industrial sectors (however, the magnitude of impacts (consumption) can vary spatially with location).

14. What can the Group on Earth Observations do
What can the Group on Earth Observations do? (with regards to the Water Sustainable Development Goal 6.4)
Agriculture:
1.Develop Satellite Constellation to Monitor Agricultural Crop Types and Crop Areas
2.Monitor Water Consumption over these agricultural areas (evapotranspiration)
Energy:
1.Identify Water Consumption (and Withdrawal) per plant type (Subcritical and supercritical pulverized coal fossil fuel plants, natural gas combined cycle plants, and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, nuclear plants, and concentrated solar) and plant age.

15. Agricultural Satellite Constellation
Revisit frequency has to be high enough to capture multiple cloud-free images during each growing season
GEOGLAM (GEO Global Agricultural Monitoring):
Lansat, Sentinel 2, and India Resourcesat
30 meter medium resolution is not high enough to resolve subsistence plots in Sub Saharan Africa, India, Indonesia, Central America, and other areas.
(Whitcraft, et al 2015, remote sensing, 7)

17. What is the Global Drought Information System?
Partnership catalyzing innovation in global drought research
Partnership with World Climate Research Program (& GEWEX) Drought Interest Group on the WCRP Grand Challenge for Extremes
Partnership with World Meteorological Organization
Assists Regional Climate Centers under Global Framework of Climate Services for drought monitoring, forecasting, and early warning
Partnership with ECMWF exploring the limits of probabililstic seasonal drought forecasting
Development/Deployment of Continental Drought Databases for each continent
Verifying Rigorous Documentation of Global Drought Incidence, Spatial Extent, and Duration to monitor rates of change of drought with climate change for IPCC

18. Global Drought Information System Governance
World Meteorological Organization
Group on Earth Observations
World Climate Research Program