A February 9 report from the NOAA Drought Task Force underlines the importance of research in implementing and advancing the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). The report, Research to Advance National Drought Monitoring and Prediction Capabilities, describes the state of the science of drought monitoring, forecasting and general understanding. The purpose of the report is to communicate the crucial role NOAA research has played over the last decade to advance the NIDIS early warning system, how these improvements benefit the user community, and opportunities for further progress.
The Drought Task Force is an initiative of NOAA’s Climate Program Office Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections program. The goals of the Task Force are to advance significantly the understanding and in the ability to monitor and predict drought over North America. The Task force was launched in 2014 and will continue work until September 2017.
In related news, NIDISlaunched two new Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS) in the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. The DEWS efforts are collaborative federal, state, tribal and local interagency efforts to expand the capability of NIDIS to bring climate and drought science to decision makers. DEWS helps build the capacity of stakeholders to better monitor, forecast, plan for and cope with the impact of drought in the United States.