Seeing Stress From Space: The U.S. is Predicting Droughts Sooner With Satellites

May 31, 2017 |

This article was originally published on NASA Applied Sciences.

“…Working with the Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inverse model, Hain and a team of scientists from NOAA, USDA-ARS, the National Drought Mitigation Center, and the University of Maryland integrated land-surface temperature measurements from the GOES satellite with vegetation, albedo, and landcover data from Terra and Aqua. The result was the development of a tool called the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI), which in many cases can indicate the beginnings of a drought two-to-four weeks earlier than current drought indicators.

What’s the benefit from adding the space-based data? They allow the ESI to assess moisture conditions on the ground—independent of precipitation. And that means the ESI can show how crops are responding to irrigation. It also means that the ESI is especially helpful for predicting a phenomenon called flash droughts. Unlike typical droughts that can take months or years to develop, flash droughts occur much more suddenly and can damage crops in a matter of weeks— well before the stress causes visible signs of damage…”

Read on at: NASA Applied Sciences.

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Introduction from Carl Obst (2017)

Victor Hugo once wrote that “Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come”. Recognising the true value of natural capital, is one such idea. Across private and public sectors, across disciplines, and around the world, initiatives to advance and develop natural capital thinking have emerged rapidly over the past 10 years.

In a blizzard of acronyms, we have the NCC, SEEA, WAVES, IIRC, KIP-INCA, A4S, GRI, EO4EA – among many others. Are they the same, are they competing, are they useful? To both insiders and outsiders this range of initiatives is confusing at best. At worst, it leads to a lack of engagement, avoidance and misunderstanding.

The reality is that, while differences among these various initiatives do exist, they have all been motivated by a common understanding of the reality that we are losing our stocks of natural capital – and that this matters.

While each initiative may have different origins, some differing objectives, and may reflect variations in technique and method, there is much common ground. Indeed, to engage the broader community in tackling the natural capital challenges we collectively face, we cannot afford to focus on distinctions. Instead, we must look to build on the overlaps and seek to build a common language that will enable the exchange of ideas and ongoing innovation.

It is in this spirit of collaboration that the Natural Capital Coalition, together with the IDEEA Group and supported by over 20 organisations, launches this statement on Combining Forces on Natural Capital.

It is especially relevant that this statement of collaboration is launched at the World Forum on Natural Capital, where leading voices in the movement gather every two years, to share best practice, enduring challenges and build further collaborations.

While progress to date has largely taken place in small pockets, in order to move forward we need to ramp up our efforts and move beyond talking with supporters and “the converted”.

For this, we need leaders who can establish spaces for dialogue and development, and who can ensure that technical debates do not form a barrier to progress, that we take full advantage of the diversity of skills and experience already engaged, and that the big picture is always kept in mind.

I encourage you to take the opportunity to read the statement, to share it within your organisations, to sign on, and to join us as we move towards a better understanding and appreciation of the complex and beautiful world in which we live.

Carl Obst is Director of the Institute for the Development of Environmental-Economic Accounting (IDEEA Group), and Lead Author of the United Nation’s System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (UN SEEA).