III.7: U.S. Drought Portal

Make soil moisture observation data public

Other Information:

Timely recognition of drought risks depends on the ability to monitor and forecast the diverse physical indicators of climatological drought, as well as relevant economic, social, and environmental impacts. A 2004 report from the Western Governors’ Association makes it clear that recent and ongoing droughts underscore the critical need for a coordinated, integrated drought monitoring, forecasting, and early warning information system. To fill this need, Congress passed the National Integrated Drought Information System Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-430) (NIDIS). The first component of NIDIS is the Drought Portal (www.drought.gov), which is part of an interactive system to: * Provide early warning about emerging and anticipated droughts, * Assimilate and control the quality of data about droughts and models, * Provide information about the risk and impacts of droughts to different agencies and stakeholders, * Provide information about past droughts in order to compare them with and to better understand current conditions, * Explain how to plan for and manage the impacts of droughts, and * Provide a forum for different stakeholders to discuss drought-related issues. During the first quarter, FY2010, the Drought Portal was expanded to include soil moisture observation data from the U.S. Climate Reference Network, which had not been previously available to the public.

Stakeholder(s):

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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