New Grant Awards

NDMC and Partners Receive NASA Grants

The National Drought Mitigation Center learned in December that two research proposals submitted to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have been approved:

“Developing Seasonal Predictive Capability for Drought Mitigation Decision Support System” will help add a forecast component to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Researchers will incorporate climate modeling and satellite observations to see whether they can provide more useful information to decision-makers. They’ll be working with end-users of the Drought Monitor Decision Support System (DMDSS) to assess whether the additional forecast information improves decisions. The end-users are two agricultural producer organizations, The Irrigation Association and The Corn Growers Association, and two local agencies, the Central Illinois Irrigated Growers Association and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. The project is expected to take three years to complete. NDMC researchers will be partnering with others from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Illinois Water Survey at the University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana. NDMC researchers on the project are Jae Ryu,Mark Svoboda, Cody Knutson, Meghan Sittler, and Don Wilhite.

“Integrating Enhanced GRACE Water Storage Data into the U.S. and North American Drought Monitors” will focus on incorporating NASA’s GRACE satellite data enhanced by hydrologic modeling into the U.S. and North American Drought Monitors. Ideally, the additional data will be incorporated into the “objective blends,” the strictly numeric drought map summaries produced weekly for the U.S. Drought Monitor. Researchers will be able to measure the difference in objective blends with and without the additional data, and will incorporate stakeholder feedback in gauging the effectiveness of the changes. The project is expected to take three years to complete. NDMC researchers will be working with others from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. NDMC researchers on the project are Mark Svoboda and Brian Wardlow.

NDMC to Work with Tribal Governments Under New Contract

The National Drought Mitigation Center will work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to help tribes plan for drought, according to a contract finalized in early November. Officials anticipate that the one-year contract will be extended for three years. The NDMC has been working with tribal governments on drought planning directly and indirectly for the past 10 years. Faculty and staff have developed expertise and understanding of tribal drought planning issues.

NOAA TRACS Grant to Advance Drought Impact Reporter

We received word that the NDMC’s Drought Impact Reporter will be enhanced by a Transition of Research Applications to Climate Services (TRACS) grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The three-year award will help make the tool more robust for policymakers and agricultural producers. NDMC researchers anticipate working with others to incorporate data from local drought impacts assessment groups into the system, and adding information from other networks of drought observers.

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