Earth observation of water cycle and applications in drought monitoring and prediction

Drought is one of the major environmental disasters in various parts of the world. Quantification of drought distribution in space and time is very difficult. Usually, the severity of droughts can be assessed with meteorological based indices (e.g., the standardised precipitation index), or satellite based indices (e.g., vegetation indices). But the former fail to capture short-term variation and the latter is difficult to interpret for heterogeneous terrain.
This presentation proposes a methdology for quantitative drought monitoring with remote sensing data. Many important applications are possible (floods and droughts, water – climate feedbacks). Sensors such as SMOS provide exciting opportunities for earth observation of water cycle components and applications (e.g. drought monitoring and prediction).

See: 'Water Cycle Research' cluster & Dragon Drought Monitoring.