Toward Global Drought Early Warning Capability: Expanding International Cooperation for the Development of a Framework for Monitoring and Forecasting

Will Pozzi Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

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Justin Sheffield Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

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Robert Stefanski Agricultural Meteorological Division, Climate and Water Department, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

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Douglas Cripe Group on Earth Observations Secretariat, Geneva, Switzerland

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Roger Pulwarty National Integrated Drought Information System, Boulder, Colorado

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Jürgen V. Vogt European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

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Richard R. Heim Jr. NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

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Michael J. Brewer NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

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Mark Svoboda Monitoring Program Area Leader, National Drought Mitigation Center, Lincoln, Nebraska

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Rogier Westerhoff Deltares, Delft, Netherlands

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Albert I. J. M. van Dijk Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

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Benjamin Lloyd-Hughes Walker Institute, University of Reading, United Kingdom

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Florian Pappenberger Predictability and Diagnostics Section, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom

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Micha Werner UNESCO-IHE and Deltares, Delft, Netherlands

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Emanuel Dutra Predictability and Diagnostics Section, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom

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Fredrik Wetterhall Predictability and Diagnostics Section, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom

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Wolfgang Wagner Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

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Siegfried Schubert NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Kingtse Mo U.S. Center for Climate Prediction, NOAA, Washington, D.C.

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Margaret Nicholson Australia Bureau of Agricultural and Economic Sciences, Canberra, Australia

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Lynette Bettio National Climate Centre, Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia

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Liliana Nunez Argentina Servicio Meteorologico Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Rens van Beek Geosciences, Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands

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Marc Bierkens Geosciences, Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands

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Luis Gustavo Goncalves de Goncalves Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São Paulo, Brazil

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João Gerd Zell de Mattos Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São Paulo, Brazil

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Richard Lawford Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland

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Drought is a global problem that has far-reaching impacts, especially on vulnerable populations in developing regions. This paper highlights the need for a Global Drought Early Warning System (GDEWS), the elements that constitute its underlying framework (GDEWF), and the recent progress made toward its development. Many countries lack drought monitoring systems, as well as the capacity to respond via appropriate political, institutional, and technological frameworks, and these have inhibited the development of integrated drought management plans or early warning systems. The GDEWS will provide a source of drought tools and products via the GDEWF for countries and regions to develop tailored drought early warning systems for their own users. A key goal of a GDEWS is to maximize the lead time for early warning, allowing drought managers and disaster coordinators more time to put mitigation measures in place to reduce the vulnerability to drought. To address this, the GDEWF will take both a top-down approach to provide global realtime drought monitoring and seasonal forecasting, and a bottom-up approach that builds upon existing national and regional systems to provide continental-to-global coverage. A number of challenges must be overcome, however, before a GDEWS can become a reality, including the lack of in situ measurement networks and modest seasonal forecast skill in many regions, and the lack of infrastructure to translate data into useable information. A set of international partners, through a series of recent workshops and evolving collaborations, has made progress toward meeting these challenges and developing a global system.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Will Pozzi, Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), University of Technology, Gusshausstrasse 27–29, 1040 Vienna, Austria, E-mail: will.pozzi@gmail.com

Drought is a global problem that has far-reaching impacts, especially on vulnerable populations in developing regions. This paper highlights the need for a Global Drought Early Warning System (GDEWS), the elements that constitute its underlying framework (GDEWF), and the recent progress made toward its development. Many countries lack drought monitoring systems, as well as the capacity to respond via appropriate political, institutional, and technological frameworks, and these have inhibited the development of integrated drought management plans or early warning systems. The GDEWS will provide a source of drought tools and products via the GDEWF for countries and regions to develop tailored drought early warning systems for their own users. A key goal of a GDEWS is to maximize the lead time for early warning, allowing drought managers and disaster coordinators more time to put mitigation measures in place to reduce the vulnerability to drought. To address this, the GDEWF will take both a top-down approach to provide global realtime drought monitoring and seasonal forecasting, and a bottom-up approach that builds upon existing national and regional systems to provide continental-to-global coverage. A number of challenges must be overcome, however, before a GDEWS can become a reality, including the lack of in situ measurement networks and modest seasonal forecast skill in many regions, and the lack of infrastructure to translate data into useable information. A set of international partners, through a series of recent workshops and evolving collaborations, has made progress toward meeting these challenges and developing a global system.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Will Pozzi, Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), University of Technology, Gusshausstrasse 27–29, 1040 Vienna, Austria, E-mail: will.pozzi@gmail.com
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