Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center generate groundwater and soil moisture drought indicators each week. They are based on terrestrial water storage observations derived from GRACE satellite data and integrated with other observations, using a sophisticated numerical model of land surface water and energy processes.
Mark Svoboda and Brian Wardlow of the NDMC worked with Matthew Rodell (principal investigator) from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and Jay Lawrimore (principal investigator) and Richard Heim from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center, James S. Famiglietti, from the University of California at Irvine; Rolf Reichle, from the Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland; Benjamin F. Zaitchik, from the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center in College Park, Maryland; and Ana Pinheiro, from NCDC and STG Incorporated. One of the results was the suite of maps updated each week, showing changes in groundwater, root zone soil moisture and surface soil moisture.