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This page last updated 30 July 2002

Workshop Agenda:

This agenda was followed at the workshop. Some of the speakers provided digital copies of their presentations, which are available below. The file size is indicated.

Thursday, April 25 - Drought Monitor User Discussion

8:20-8:30 a.m.	Thomas Karl (NOAA, NCDC Director) Introduction and Welcome to NCDC
8:30-8:50 a.m.	Richard Heim (NOAA/NCDC) Drought Monitor Forum objectives, other administrative matters, group introduction
8:50-9:10 a.m.	David Miskus (JAWF/CPC/NCEP/NWS) & Brad Rippey (USDA) Making of the Drought Monitor presentation - DMiskus_BRippey_DMmaking.ppt (4.2 MB)
9:10-9:30 a.m.	Woody Yonts (Chairman, N.C. Drought Monitoring Council) Activities of the North Carolina Drought Monitoring Council presentation - WYonts-drought-presentation.pdf (900 KB)
9:30-10:00 a.m.	Hope Mizzell (SC Drought Response Program, SC Department of Natural Resources) Drought Monitoring Activities in South Carolina presentation - HMizzel_droughpresncdc.ppt (1.3 MB)
10:00-10:10 a.m.	Derek Arndt (Oklahoma Climatological Survey) The Ongoing Drought and Response in Western Oklahoma presentation - DArndt_NCDC-Asheville-Drought.ppt (1.5 MB)
10:10-10:30 a.m.	BREAK
10:30-10:50 a.m.	Dev Niyogi (N C State University) Soil Moisture and Drought Monitoring in North Carolina presentation - DNiyogi_DroughtMonitorWorkshop.ppt (6.7 MB)
10:50-11:10 a.m.	L. (Wayne) Hamberger (TVA) & Jerry McDuffie (NOAA/NWS) East Tennessee Drought Parameters presentation - WHamberger-JMcduffie_TVA-and-Drought-Monitoring-IssuesR2.ppt (500 KB)
11:10-11:30 a.m.	Mike Palecki (Midwest Regional Climate Center) The 1999-2000 Drought in the Midwest: Intensity / Impacts Disconnect Due to Seasonal Timing presentation - MPalecki_ISWS_mike_drought.ppt (1 MB)
11:30-11:50 a.m.	Donald T. Jensen - (Utah State Climatologist, Utah State University) Drought Definitions and Applications on Local Level presentation - DJensen_drought-presentation-AVL.ppt (8.6 MB)
11:50-12:00 noon	Robert Blevins (CIA) Overview of CIA Weather/Climate Operations & Utility of the Drought Monitor presentation - RBlevins_drought.ppt (6 MB)
12:00-1:30 p.m.	LUNCH (on your own)
1:30-2:00 p.m.	Terry Brown (Water Control Manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) Drought Contingency Planning, Monitoring and Real-Time Reacting presentation - TBrown-coe_wilmington_tb-final.ppt (2.4 MB)
2:00-2:20 p.m.	Solomon Summer (NOAA/NWS Eastern Region) NWS Eastern Region Drought Program presentation - SSummer_drought_final_er_sol_summer.ppt (200 KB)
2:20-2:40 p.m.	Ben Weiger (NOAA/NWS Southern Region) Drought-Related Products Available & Planned in the NWS Southern Region presentation - BWeiger_Drought-Monitoring-Products-in-the-NWS-Southern-Region.ppt (700 KB)
2:40-3:00 pm	Rich Tinker (NOAA/NWS/CPC) Drought Monitor Blended Indicators presentation - RTinker_blend-presentation.ppt (32.1 MB)
3:00-3:10 pm	Richard Heim (NOAA/NCDC) On a Precipitation Proxy for Hydro-Well Level Measurements presentation - RHeim_Hydro-Well-Precip-Proxy-Apr-2002.ppt (3.5 MB)
3:10-3:30 p.m.	BREAK
3:30-4:40 pm	David Legates (Center for Climatic Research, Univ. of Delaware) and Pat Michaels (Virginia State Climate Office) A Proposal for an Objective Method to Monitor Drought Using WSR-88D Rainfall Estimates presentation - PMichaels_Asheville1.ppt (2.6 MB)
4:40-5:00 pm	Douglas Le Comte (NOAA/NWS) Seasonal Drought Outlook presentation - DLecomte_Drought-Outlook-Asheville-Apr02.ppt (500 KB)

8:00-8:15 a.m.	Thomas Karl (NOAA, NCDC Director) Introduction and North America Drought Status Report objectives presentation - The Importance of Monitoring Extremes (100 KB)
8:15-8:45 a.m.	Ted O'Brien & Brian Abrahamson (Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration) The Current Agroclimate Information Services on the Canadian Prairies and Prospects for Future Services in Canada
8:45-9:15 a.m.	Miguel Cortes (National Meteorological Service of Mexico) Drought Monitoring Activities in Mexico presentation, part 1 - MCortez_Mexico_Palmer_regions.ppt (1 MB) presentation, part 2 - MCortez_Mexico_Palmer_regions_ADouglas0424.txt (2 KB)
9:15-9:40 a.m.	Jay Lawrimore (NOAA/NCDC) U.S. Drought Monitoring Activities at the National Climatic Data Center presentation - JLawrimore_DroughtMonitoring_at_NCDC.ppt (5.8 MB)
9:40-10:00 a.m.	Mark Svoboda (National Drought Mitigation Center) Creating a Global Drought Preparedness Network presentation - MSvoboda_Global-Drought-Network_Asheville.ppt (2 MB)
10:00-10:30 a.m.	BREAK
10:30-11:00 a.m.	Walter Skinner (Meteorological Service of Canada, Climate Research Branch) Continental Patterns of Palmer Drought Severity Index during the 20th Century presentation - WSkinner_Asheville_pdsi_02.ppt (21.4 MB)
11:00-11:30 a.m.	Phil Englehart (Creighton University) Warm Season Drought Episodes in the Central US: Another Look presentation - PEnglehart-NCDC-drought-presentation.ppt (400 KB)
11:30-12:00 noon	C. Mark Eakin (NOAA Paleoclimatology Program) Paleoclimatic Drought Resources presentation - MEakin_paleo_drought_monitor.ppt (7.1 MB) summary - MEakin_paleo_drought_monitor_summ.htm summary - MEakin_paleo_drought_monitor_summ.txt (2 KB) summary - MEakin_paleo_drought_monitor_summ.doc (600 KB)
12:00-1:30 p.m.	LUNCH (on your own)
1:30-3:00 p.m.	Working Session: Open Discussion on Developing the 2001 State of Drought in North America Report Thomas Karl (NOAA/NCDC) and Miguel Cortes (National Meteorological Service of Mexico), Discussion Leaders Agenda Items: determine action items (who needs to do what by when) determine requirements for report parameters to compute (Palmer Index, SPI, other) requirements for any other drought indices desired (e.g., incorporating snow or computed on daily basis) data (temperature, precipitation) and auxiliary data (Palmer parameters) needed to compute these parameters across North America procedure to collecting the data (what, who, where data come from, push/pull data, when it is needed) decide: central location for data collection and computation of parameters, or each country compute separately? determine spatial units: compute by climate division or by station? will local review & input play a role (a la U.S. Drought Monitor)? If yes, need a contact list of local experts in all 3 countries. set next meeting and report deadline October 2002 - working group meeting to draft text (outline) of report, decide meeting dates & where November 2002 - finish fully integrated 2001 North America drought status report
3:00-3:30 p.m.	BREAK
3:30-5:00 p.m.	Working Session: Continuation of Open Discussion on Developing the 2001 State of Drought in North America Report David Easterling (NOAA/NCDC) and Val Swail (Meteorological Service of Canada), Discussion Leaders (see above for Agenda Items)

Saturday, April 27 - U.S. Drought Monitor Technical Issues

8:00-8:20 a.m.	Ned Guttman (NOAA/NCDC) Standardizing the Computations of the SPI
8:20-8:40 a.m.	Mark Svoboda (National Drought Mitigation Center) Applying New SPI Tools presentation - MSvoboda-Mark_DMFORUM_Asheville.ppt (3.1 MB)

Administrative Issues, Technical Issues, & Discussion Items:

8:40-9:00 a.m.	Resolve difference between weekly and monthly Palmer Index Resolve issue of consistency/agreement in calculation of the SPI (Pearson III vs Gamma) SPI weekly link to UCAN stations (http://rcf.unl.edu:8015/~dgov/)
9:00-9:20 a.m.	Clarify the protocol for responding to inquiries to the Drought Monitor authors. Who will answer these inquiries? Should this be the job of the back-up author each week? Should all authors see the questions, or just the author and back-up? Clarify the timing of the final draft, the "near final", and the "final, final" DM maps. Make sure that all authors are on the same page as to when Kim and Deb need these maps and when they will be posted. For example, if a map is changed early Thursday morning, it may have to be re-posted to the web site if Kim and Deb have already done the preparation and posting for that week. Clarify the listserve web site and emphasize that the authors themselves can point new members to the listserve to join. Creation of a vision-impaired friendly version of the DM website. Creation of a vision-impaired friendly version of the DM map. How to successfully deal with the voluminous weekly email.
9:20-9:40 a.m.	Identify issues relevant to drought monitoring in the western U.S. (e.g., the use of reservoir data & SWSI) to bring up for discussion at the Portland, OR May drought gathering Identify issues relevant to drought monitoring in the southwestern U.S. (e.g., when does a desert have drought?) to bring up for discussion at a future drought gathering in the Southwest
9:40-10:00 a.m.	"Do we lead in the political decision process or follow?" Computation of the percent area in the Drought Monitor categories and other GIS matters Terminology (should D1 be called "First Level Drought" or just plain "Drought" instead of "Moderate Drought"?)
10:00-10:30 a.m.	BREAK
10:30-11:00 a.m.	Labeling, Interpretation, & Consistency. Examples: Can there be a D0 (W), (A), or (F)? D3(W) - does it imply no D1 or D2 Ag or Fire? If an area is D3(F), is it automatically D2(A,W) unless stated otherwise? If an area is D3(W), but also D0(A,F), should it be labeled D3(W) or an average D2(W)? (In other words: If an area has different severities of short- & long-term drought, do we show the most severe of these on the map or an "average"?) When is a drought really over? When the blended indicators say so? When some of the indicators say so? When all of the indicators say so?
11:00-11:30 a.m.	Do we need two separate Drought Monitor maps (a weekly map for short-term drought & a monthly map for long-term drought)? More than two maps? If depicting short- & long-term drought on one map: Again, do we average the two blends of indicators, or show the worst of the two on the one map?
11:30-12:00 noon	Wrap up and adjourn