The Climate Hazards Group hosted our colleagues from the Hydrologic Sciences group at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for a day of collaboration and information sharing. Christa Peters-Lidard provided an overview on the (FAME), or Forecasting for Africa and the Middle East, a project she is working on with CHG assistant researcher Shrad Shukla, among others. The GSFC hydrologists, including CHG member Amy McNally, have been working with the CHG to develop methods and tools for improving drought monitoring and forecasting in Africa and Middle East using hydrologic models (such as https://lis.gsfc.nasa.gov/) and seasonal climate forecasts (such as NMME). After CHG presentations on CHIRPS/CHIRTS, crop yield forecasting, ENSO influence, and CHG/FEWS NET forecasting, CHG and CSFC collaborators discussed FEWS NET drought monitoring and early warning activities as well as data/tool needs and how FAME can address them.

 

The two major collaborations between the CHG and the GSFC hydrologists are:

 

(1) FLDAS - Output from this project is used by FEWS NET in their early warning reports.

(2) FAME - The goal of this project is to develop a real-time system that can provide seasonal scale (6 months or so in advance) forecasts of water supply deficit in Africa and the Middle East. FEWS NET is one of the collaborators and end-users of this project.