SGER: Development of a North American Drought Atlas

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This award, under the auspices of the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program, provides funds to develop a North American Drought Atlas, on CD-ROM, based on tree-ring reconstructions of the summer (June-July-August) Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). These reconstructions will be on a 297-point 2.5x2.5 degrees regular grid and cover the past 600 years. The tree-ring data was collected over a period of years with prior funding from the Paleoclimate Program at the National Science Foundation. The atlas will provide yearly PDSI reconstructions overlain on a map of North America dating from the year AD 1400 (or earlier where possible) through the year 1990 that can be viewed individually and in movie format. The PDSI maps will provide a graphic picture of dynamic drought and wetness across the North America continent. The CD-ROM atlas will allow individual reconstructions to be displayed as time series for any given grid point in North America. The data used to develop the PDSI temporal and spatial reconstructions will also be provided on the CD-ROM, along with full documentation. This will allow users to examine the detailed history of drought and wetness for any location and use the data for further analysis. Once completed, the CD-ROM may be run on a laptop computer and also accessed from NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) website. The project cost-effectively leverages previous investments of public funds for paleoclimate science research to achieve a potentially significant payoff for the international community of paleoclimate science researchers, and the general public, through a synthesis of paleoclimatic data and analysis.