Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341339
Research Project: Integrating Remote Sensing, Measurements and Modeling for Multi-Scale Assessment of Water Availability, Use, and Quality in Agroecosystems

Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory

Title: Advancements in satellite remote sensing for drought monitoring

Author
item WARDLOW, B. - University Of Nebraska
item Anderson, Martha
item HAIN, C - Goddard Space Flight Center
item Crow, Wade
item OTKIN, J. - University Of Wisconsin
item TADESSE, T. - University Of Nebraska
item AGHAKOUCHAK, A. - Collaborator

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2017
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Drought monitoring is a key component for effective drought preparedness strategies, providing critical information on current conditions that can be used to trigger mitigation actions to lessen the impact of this natural hazard. However, drought can be both complex and challenging to monitor because it lacks a single, universal definition, which makes the detection and assessment of key drought characteristics such as severity, geographic extent and duration difficult. As a result, a number of drought indicators related to precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, vegetation health, surface and ground water have been developed to characterize specific types of drought and have been analyzed collectively in efforts such as the U.S. Drought Monitor. While in situ-based observations of these parameters have provided the basis for most traditional indicators used for drought monitoring, satellite remote sensing has the potential for providing significantly higher spatial and temporal sampling, shorter latency in delivery, and better consistency in data quality over large regions in comparison with ground-based datasets. This chapter describes recent advancements in use of remote sensing in drought monitoring. Discussion focuses on satellite products describing vegetation health, evapotranspiration, precipitation, soil moisture and groundwater levels. Furthermore, new developments in assimilation of remotely sensed products into landsurface and hydrologic modeling frameworks are presented, as well as techniques for using these diagnostics to improve short-term forecasts of developing drought conditions.