Practical Applications of Soil Moisture Information

Introduction

Speaker: Marina Skumanich, NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System

• This two-part Soil Moisture Webinar Series is co-hosted by the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and the National Weather Service. This webinar is sponsored in part by the National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network (NCSMMN).
• Goals of this webinar series:
  • Raise awareness of soil moisture as a key hydrologic indicator
  • Review the three sources of soil moisture data
  • Highlight practical applications of soil moisture data

Using Soil Moisture to Develop the U.S. Drought Monitor Map

Speaker: Richard Heim, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information

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• What is the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), and how is it done?
  • USDM is a composite product produced weekly. It is a map and narrative depiction of current drought conditions.
  • Drought conditions are depicted as percentile-based categories. Percentiles relate current drought conditions to historical probability of occurrence.
  • Dozens (~ 50) of drought indices, indicators, and data products (can be hundreds of individual maps) are examined each week.
  • Field observations and expert input from > 400 partners nationwide.
  • 3-day window: Monday–Wednesday.
• What data are used to prepare the USDM?
  • USDM authors utilize soil moisture data from a variety of sources:
    • Satellite-derived products
    • Modeled products
    • In-situ observations from mesonets
• How can soil moisture products best be used to feed the USDM?
  • Soil moisture data should be presented in units that are relatable to the USDM Dx categories.
  • Display the data in a graphical/map form that is easily digestible at a quick glance.
  • Ideally, provide in a GIS format importable into ArcMap mxd.

How Soil Moisture Informs the U.S. Drought Outlooks

Speaker: Brad Pugh, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center

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• How Is Soil Moisture Used in Prediction?
  • The Monthly and Seasonal Drought Outlooks use the U.S. Drought Monitor as a starting point for forecasting: persistence, improvement, or removal.
  • Soil moisture initial conditions are important in targeting areas for development, but large changes can occur on a seasonal time scale.
  • More relevant in a monthly drought outlook when initial conditions such as soil moisture and skillful temperature outlooks can best be used.
  • CPC is implementing a flash drought risk to its week-2 hazards.
  • During the warm season, especially May–August, anomalous soil moisture can influence surface temperature, and it’s used in CPC’s week 3-4, monthly, and seasonal temperature outlooks.
  • CPC also uses a constructed analog, derived from soil moisture, in its monthly and seasonal outlooks.
• Ongoing/Future Work
  • Soil moisture monitoring:
    • Producing near real-time land surface monitoring maps based on Noah and Noah-MP.
    • Developing atmospheric forcings from the early or mid 20th century.
      • Close the 4-day latency of NLDAS-2 forcings; Extend back to early/mid 20th century.
  • Soil moisture prediction:
    • Preparing subseasonal and seasonal soil moisture forecasts using Noah and Noah-MP. 
    • Contributing to the development of probabilistic subseasonal and seasonal drought outlooks at CPC.
    • Produced by driving LSMs offline with bias-corrected and calibrated dynamical meteorological forecasts.

Using Soil Moisture for State-Level Drought Monitoring

Speaker: Laura Edwards, South Dakota State Climatologist

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• South Dakota drought monitoring efforts:
  • Weekly email discussions among state climatologist, state fire meteorologist, National Weather Service staff (3 offices), state geologist, and state water rights staff provide recommendations to the U.S. Drought Monitor authors.
  • Governor's office decides on/around May 1 to activate the Drought Task Force for the season/year. The U.S. Drought Monitor can sometimes help bring attention to this issue (especially D2 or worse).
  • South Dakota State University Extension teams communicate year-round on agriculture (crops and livestock) and natural resource management and do their own programming (meetings, webinars, media, etc.).
  • In a small state, communication can be fast.
  • Keep lines open to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offices in the state and USDA Climate Hubs.
• There are places for modeled, remotely sensed, and in situ soil moisture data. We use all of them!
• Soil temperature provides useful information in our northern climate.
• Soil response to precipitation events and snow melt are dependent on soil type and temperature. We have a qualitative understanding but not quantitative.
• The South Dakota Mesonet has some excellent tools, but more are on our wish list:
  • Improve data visualization to better illustrate changes in soil moisture over time, at various time intervals.
  • Go beyond volumetric water content and show plant available water.
  • Calibrate soil moisture measurement to the soil type.

Questions & Answers

Moderator: Maggie Hurwitz, NOAA's National Weather Service