Monika Bláhová and Petra Dizkova visited Nebraska and collaborated with NDMC staff on research projects from Nov. 25 through Dec. 6, 2024.NDMC Communications
NDMC members participate in UNCCD’s COP16
NDMC Director Mark Svoboda and Assistant Director Kelly Smith were in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the week of Dec. 9, at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s COP16 meeting. They organized a panel and participated in other panels and sessions.
The NDMC panel, “Unveiling the Drought Impact Tracker: A prototype for crowdsourcing drought impact data in Africa,” focused on a system for crowdsourcing reports on drought conditions for land management in Africa. Smith and others worked with the UNCCD and partners such as the Sahara and Sahel Observatory to explore exporting NDMC’s Condition Monitoring Observer Report (CMOR) system for use in Africa. The prototype survey is online at go.unl.edu/droughtimpacttracker, including a link to an associated dashboard displaying responses.
Group receives grant award for Northern Plains Tribal projects
A group that includes Hayes and NDMC Planning Coordinator Cody Knutson was awarded $248,800 from the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Tribal Climate Resilience program. This is a collaborative project among the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance, NDMC/UNL, South Dakota State University, Montana State Climate Office, Oglala Lakota College and NOAA.
The group’s proposal, “Ochéthi Šakówi? Data for Climate Resilience, BIA Tribal Climate Resilience Program,” aims to host two climate training camps and mentor related training projects with students and Tribal staff in the Northern Plains region.
USDM webinar now available
A webinar describing the U.S. Drought Monitor, how it’s made and drought impact reporting is now available on YouTube. It features presentations by NDMC Climatologist Curtis Riganti and Smith. https://youtu.be/cyQqskIjchI
Study assesses open-source data for drought monitoring in data-limited regions
Data availability is a key restriction in drought monitoring, with rainfall-based methods being more widely used despite their shortcomings, primarily due to the lack of observations for other meteorological parameters. Knutson and NDMC Geospatial Coordinator Tsegaye Tadesse co-authored “Agricultural drought assessment in data-limited arid regions using opensource remotely sensed data: a case study from Jordan,” published in Springer Nature on Jan. 10.
This study evaluates open-source remote sensing based meteorological data from the POWER database for agricultural drought assessment in Jordan, where data access is limited, and drought-attributed crop failures are increasingly reported. The results showed strong correlations with ground measurements for precipitation and temperature from POWER.
Video feature explains the USDM
NDMC Monitoring Coordinator Brian Fuchs and Svoboda were interviewed for a feature on the U.S. Drought Monitor by KAKE in Wichita. The video explains how the USDM is made and how it communicates drought information. https://www.kake.com/home/kake-water-watch-so-are-we-in-a-drought/article_6085b610-a292-11ef-b667-57bade1751ef.html
Czech scholars visit NDMC office
Monika Bláhová from the CzechGlobe drought monitoring project visited the NDMC over the last week of November and first week of December. She joined Petra Dizkova, a Czech grad student working with NDMC Affiliated Faculty Mike Hayes. This visit is the latest chapter in a longstanding relationship between NDMC and drought researchers at Mendel University in Brno.