Global drought monitoring at high resolution

The European Drought Observatory (EDO) and the Global Drought Observatory (GDO) uses mainly modeled data for monitoring drought at the European and Global scale. The OEMC project will build 1km drought maps on a seasonal scale based on soil moisture, vegetation, and precipitation data obtained from the integration of satellite, modeled, and ground-based observations. Integrated satellite data will allow us to include the human component in drought assessment with improved reliability in areas impacted by human activity (ie extensively irrigated areas).

What is the challenge?

Current drought monitoring systems incorporate in most cases individual products of soil moisture for the identification of abnormally dry or wet soil moisture conditions. However, most individual products lack the capability to identify such alterations across a wide range of environments.

Our solution

Merging soil moisture products from remote sensing, models and in-situ observations combines the advantages of these different types of data with the potential to improve the level of consistency and reliability of the current drought .

Who will benefit?

JRC: Joint Research Center of European Commission for the development of their EU and global scale drought monitors: the European Drought Observatory (EDO) and the Global Drought Observatory (GDO).