In early June 2021, the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) released the Southern Plains Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) 2021–2025 Strategic Action Plan. The Plan is designed to set priorities and suggest measurable actions that can create value in this drought-prone region, with the ultimate goal of improving stakeholder resilience during times of drought.
A key factor that determines how users respond to forecasts is the extent to which they trust the information. To help integrate this understanding into forecast valuation, a recent study proposes a framework to model trust in drought forecast information that captures how users’ trust forms and evolves over time and shows how trust influences users’ decisions.
Comparing data from two independent measurements, NASA and NOAA researchers have found that Earth’s energy imbalance roughly doubled during the 14-year period from 2005 to 2019.
A new study in Nature Communications confirmed the widespread notion that the flood impacts of Hurricane Sandy were worse because of anthropogenic-induced sea level rise. The research team’s simulations indicated that approximately $8.1 billion of Sandy’s damages are attributable to climate-mediated anthropogenic sea level rise. Results also estimated that an additional 71,000 people were affected by the flooding that resulted from higher seas.
On May 27, 2021, NOAA’s Climate Program Office hosted a meeting of US agencies and several external partners involved in international coastal blue carbon research, capacity building, and climate policy, for the purpose of advancing collaboration through the recently established NOAA Blue Carbon Inventory (BCI) Project.
On May 24, the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) hosted a Drought Update and Wildfire Outlook Webinar for California and the Southwest. The webinar summary and recording are now available. The webinar provided stakeholders and other interested parties in the region with timely information on the current drought status and outlook, as well as the wildland fire potential outlook.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked for 2021. In May, the monthly average reached 419 parts per million (ppm), the highest level since accurate measurements began 63 years ago.
NOAA and Boeing are teaming up to evaluate the best placement for a NOAA greenhouse gas sampling system on a commercial jet. This is a first step toward an expansion of NOAA’s global atmospheric sampling network to include commercial airliners in the U.S. and International airlines in these critical data-gathering efforts.
Drought is typically defined based on precipitation and runoff deficits, but is that the best way to identify drought conditions? A new study suggests that drought must be understood as a more complex process that involves both natural and human‐induced changes.
In May 2021, the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP), a NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) team, in collaboration with Texas Sea Grant, released a new dashboard that shows historical trends in temperatures for locations across the state of Texas. The new dashboard offers location-specific information about changes in temperature in the last 50 years.