Implementing the Hydroclimatic Index in Drought Monitoring and Forecasting within Arizona and the Colorado River Basin
Introduction
Drought causes an annual estimated impact of $6-8 billion globally and can tip the scales between water sufficiency and crisis in many areas of the world. Fortunately, drought unfolds slowly and thus affords time for monitoring and for mitigation of the impacts on societies and natural ecosystems. Given the limited success of drought forecasting and the particularly slow evolution of hydrologic drought in the western United States, close monitoring is the best tool for anticipating episodes of drought. Efforts to monitor and portray drought status are hampered, however, by reliance on indices that contain regional biases and limited relationship to the multiple dimensions of drought. Decision-makers are loath to take management actions based on drought status information derived from complex and arcane drought indices. The goals of this research are (1) the creation of an improved drought monitoring tool termed the Hydroclimatic Index, (2) demonstration of its utility in Arizona and the greater Southwest to state and regional stakeholders, (3) improved understanding of drought variability across the region for the purpose of improved forecasting, and (4) formal implementation of the Hydroclimatic Index in drought monitoring within Arizona and the Southwestern United States.
Outcomes
The Hydroclimatic Index as a drought monitoring tool is to be "handed-off" to the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and it is to become accessible through the United States Drought Portal of the National Integrated Drought Information System via the Arizona Hydrologic Information System.
ASU Project Staff
Andrew Ellis (Geographical Sciences), Robert Balling (Geographical Sciences), Patricia Gober (Decision Center for a Desert City), Jamie White (Research Assistant, Geographical Sciences)
Funding
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