MAPP/NIDIS Drought Task Force II

The Drought Task Force II was established in October 2014 and ran until September 2017. The overall goals of the NOAA Drought Task Force are to achieve significant advances in understanding and in the ability to monitor and predict drought over North America. The Task Force is an initiative of NOAA’s Climate Program Office Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections (MAPP) program. The research results are expected to help advance basic understanding of drought mechanisms, official national drought products, the development of early warning systems by the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), and experimental drought monitoring and prediction activities and tools for operational and service purposes as part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's (NCEP) Climate Test Bed. The Task Force will coordinate with other relevant national and international efforts including the emerging National Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME) capabilities, and the international effort to develop a Global Drought Information System (GDIS).

The core membership of the Task Force was composed of MAPP/NIDIS-funded investigators from universities, NOAA, and other Federal centers and laboratories. Membership in the Task Force can also include invited scientists and other individuals from across the community with interest and expertise in Drought Task Force research areas.

The Drought Task Force II Leads were:

• Marty Hoerling (Lead), NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories
• Mark Svoboda (Co-Lead), University of Nebraska, National Drought Mitigation Center
• Eric Wood (Co-Lead), Princeton University
• Randy Koster (Co-Lead), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center