Remote Sensing of Drought

Brian D. Wardlow is an assistant professor and GIScience program area leader for the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. For more information, visit the National Drought Mitigation Center web site at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.Martha C. Anderson is a physical scientist in the Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland. For more information, visit Dr. Anderson’s web page at USDA ARS.James P. Verdin is a physical scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Early Warning and Environmental Monitoring (EWEM) Program. For more information, visit the EWEM web site.

• Drought Monitoring. Vegetation: Historical Perspectives on AVHRR NDVI and Vegetation Drought Monitoring. Vegetation Drought Response Index. The Vegetation Outlook (VegOut). Drought Monitoring Using Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation Estimates Derived from MERIS. Evapotranspiration: Remote Sensing of Evapotranspiration for Operational Drought Monitoring Using Principles of Water and Energy Balance. A Thermal-Based Evaporative Stress Index for Monitoring Surface Moisture Depletion. Agricultural Drought Monitoring in Kenya Using Evapotranspiration Derived from Remote Sensing and Reanalysis Data. Soil Moisture/Ground Water: Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture. North American Land Data Assimilation System. Satellite Gravimetry Applied to Drought Monitoring. Precipitation: Estimating Precipitation from WSR-88D Observations and Rain Gauge Data. Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information Using Artificial Neural Networks. Mapping Recent Decadal Climate Variations in Precipitation and Temperature across Eastern Africa and the Sahel. Snow Cover Monitoring from Remote-Sensing Satellites. Summary: Future Opportunities and Challenges in Remote Sensing of Drought. Index.

"This is by far the most comprehensive book on drought studies using satellite remote sensing. The book brings new insights, methods, and approaches to advance remote sensing of drought monitoring by: (a) proposing and discussing new indices, (b) demonstrating operational potential for early warning, (c) integrating and linking a variety of drought related information by studying indicators such as vegetation, evapotranspiration, snowmelt, soil moisture, and precipitation, and (d) providing local, regional, national, and global perspectives. The book is edited and written by some of the highly respected members of the remote sensing community with long years of experience. This book is a must for anyone interested in seeking the most advanced and sophisticated methods of studying Meteorological, Hydrological, Agricultural and Socioeconomic Droughts using advanced remote sensing data, methods, and models." —Dr. Prasad S. Thenkabail, U.S. Geological Survey "Brian Wardlow, Martha Anderson, and James Verdin have prepared a seminal book on the interrelationship between drought management and the application of remote sensing technologies to the complex challenges associated with drought monitoring and early warning. ... a timely and informative collection of contributions focused on new technologies that can address the challenges of drought monitoring ..."—From the Foreword by Donald A. Wilhite, Professor and Director, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska–Lincoln"I would definitely consider buying this book because I find it interesting to see what prominent authors in the field of drought and vegetation monitoring see as innovative and pre-operational methods at the global scale. … A book like this can help to reinforce the message that high quality early warning and monitoring products can be provided to the community and to decision makers as long as there is political commitment and continuity in the provision of earth observation data."—Felix Rembold, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Italy