DroughtView: Combining on-the-Ground Know-how with Remotely Sensed Data to Assess Drought Impacts

Speaker: Jeremy Weiss, Climate and Geospatial Extension Scientist, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, UA
Time / Date: 12:00 – 1:00, Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Location: 201 North Stone – 9th Floor Conference Rooms A &B

Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to the presentation in order to work along during DroughtView use examples and to try out DroughtView capabilities.

Rapid increases in both the amount and types of environmental data along with needs for decision-support tools that meaningfully integrate subsets of these data offer numerous applied research and climate service opportunities. In this context, we have redeveloped DroughtView, a web-based map application that combines different types of drought-monitoring information in order to provide relevant data-based perspectives.

During this presentation, we will examine a recent drought assessment in which participants used DroughtView to corroborate their on-the-ground observations with larger, county-level patterns of high and low rangeland productivity. We also will consider how past wildfires may influence interpretation of remotely sensed measurements of surface greenness that are often used for monitoring drought conditions. In addition to learning about DroughtView and the data behind it through these and other examples, we will look at its new capabilities of impact reporting and information sharing that enable field experts in agriculture and natural resources to contribute to local assessment efforts.