The NDMC's GIScience and Analysis team is actively researching ways to use data from satellites and other remote sensing devices to measure drought.
The Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) uses GIS to combine data from satellites, climatology, and biophysical processes, to determine how much vegetation stress is due to drought and how much is due to other factors. We are developing VegDRI in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) and the High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC).
Vegetation Outlook (VegOut) is a highly experimental product. It will be similar to VegDRI, but will project drought conditions into the future at two-, four-, and six-week intervals.
Current and Past Projects
Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI)
Vegetation Outlook (VegOut)
Evaporative stress index (ESI) using thermal remote sensing, with USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Terrestrial water storage monitoring using satellite gravity data from GRACE, with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Soil moisture estimation using microwave remote sensing, with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Land surface phenology of crops, with Japan’s National Institute for Agro-Environmental Science (NIAES)
Understanding the ecological impacts of drought on bird populations through the analysis of remote sensing and climate data, with University of Wisconsin-Madison
Estimating and monitoring biophysical characteristics of crops using multi-temporal, satellite-based vegetation index (VI) data, with UNL's Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT)
Exploring advanced statistical analysis techniques for analyzing satellite and climate data for drought monitoring and vegetation health prediction, with University of Nebraska-Kearney
Monitoring agricultural land use change in the Brazilian Amazon using time-series remote sensing observations, with University of Kansas, Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program (KARS)