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Drought Observatory Part 3
Leandro Rocchi
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Heat waves and droughts have important and increasing repercussions on physical, chemical and biological systems, and on some socio-economical aspects such as health, agriculture, natural ecosystems and tourism.
The system provides a semi-automatic, detailed, timely and comprehensive operational service. This service, initially developed for Tuscany Region, supports decision makers, water authorities, researchers and general stakeholders
Meteorological stations network, satellite images and models are integrated through an open source and interoperable SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructure) based on PostgreSQL/PostGIS to produce vegetation and precipitation indices to follow the occurrence and evolution of a drought event.
The system is based on a monitoring component and on a forecasting ones. It uses two type of indices:
The SDI set up for the Observatory allows the dissemination of comprehensive, up-to-date information, customisable for different end users and delivered through different channels.
A complete catalogue (CKAN and GeoServer) with data and metadata in different formats and standard protocols. Any third-party client applications can easily reuse the spatial data.
A customised Open Source WebGIS application to integrate different datasets and share maps of drought indices with researchers, decision makers and other stakeholders.
Monthly updates on Tuscan drought current and future conditions and local impacts, press releases and useful links. [The bulletin is issued only in Italian.]
RESTFUL APIs for data downloading, clipping and geoprocessing ensure the interoperability.
The users’ survey collecting suggestions and needs on drought management and information, so to improve effectiveness of the drought operational services.
A selected list of drought related keywords. Sources: EarthLabs, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC).
A Continuous Work-in-Progress.
New technical improvements in the ICT infrastructure, coupled with scientific advances, allow a timely, ready-to-use and users-specific upgrading of the early warning communication.
