Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-13610-030-102-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2026
End Date: Jun 30, 2027
Objective:
The Cooperator will development a new remote sensed-based system for estimating the impact of agricultural drought on the terrestrial water balance - particularly crop and rangeland evapotranspiration and use the results of this system to improve the ability of an existing land surface model to capture the evolution of agricultural drought.
Approach:
The Cooperator has developed a unique data assimilation system that leverages both thermal infrared and microwave remote sensing to constrain the complex coupled relationship between the surface water and energy balance cycles - as well as the feedback of drought on agricultural productivity. Such constraints are badly needed since existing models tend to represent these relationships poorly - thus compromising their ability to monitor and predict the evolution of agricultural drought. Across a variety of agricultural sites within the central United States, we will examine this system and validate its predictions regarding the impact of agricultural drought on both surface water fluxes and agricultural productivity. Based on the results of this validation, we will attempt include these derived constraints into a prognostic land surface model tasked with monitoring the onset and evolution of agricultural drought.