Description

This training hosted by NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) focuses on introducing the NASA Land Information System (LIS) output of soil moisture at various depths for drought analysis and monitoring. Traditional drought applications and indices focus on sensible weather (temperature, wind, etc.) and precipitation trends and their impacts on the hydrologic system. As a result of the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) program and its research-to-operations (R2O) work, this training demonstrates how LIS output of soil moisture from a land surface model (LSM) can be included in traditional drought monitoring applications. The NASA SPoRT Program has implemented a version of NASA LIS (SPoRT-LIS) that utilizes near real-time Green Vegetation Fraction (GVF) from Suomi NPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) retrievals, as opposed to static, climatology values of GVF.

Near real-time forcing of the LSM by the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) precipitation and the Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) sensible weather data provide near real-time, observation-driven products with ~2–8 hours latency. Each of these enable a more accurate depiction of vegetation and soil moisture impacts related to both long-term and short-term drought events, including rapid-onset flash drought events. Research-to-Operations work at SPoRT has led to the development of value-added products such as the derived percentile products for soil moisture. For example, low percentile values from SPoRT-LIS have been shown to correspond well to areas experiencing short-term drought within the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). Via Operations-to-Research (O2R) activities with end-users, soil moisture changes on various timescales pertinent to drought applications have been added to the SPoRT-LIS output data suite.

This training improves the user’s understanding of how soil moisture is modeled within LIS to improve the interpretation and application of this output for drought monitoring. Conducted by experts in LIS and operational drought monitoring, the overall course enables users to interpret SPoRT-LIS soil moisture percentile products for drought applications. Examples from operational applications as well as practice exercises (for using LIS data for drought monitoring) are included in this course. Access to the SPoRT-LIS products via online viewer, in GIS formats, and GIS-based display tools, are also included. Moreover, self-paced microlessons are available to help users confirm their understanding and improve their skill via homework lessons between live sessions.

Prerequisites

Sessions

Part 1: Foundational Understanding of LIS (Static, Forcing, Models, Output)

• Introduction and Drought Background
• NASA LIS Framework and Output (30 minutes)
• SPoRT LIS-CONUS version, Derived Percentiles, Forecasts (30 minutes)
• Q&A Session (30 minutes)

Guest Instructors

Christopher Hain, Jonathan Case, Sujay Kumar 

Materials

• Part 1 Presentation Slides (PDF, 15.5 MB)
• Part 1 Q&A Document (PDF, 0.2 MB)
• [OPTIONAL] Microlesson to be completed prior to Session 2
  • Self-Paced Item 1a: Details of RSM and Other Output for Drought
    • Reminder from Live Session plus some details and examples
  • Self-Paced Item 1b: SPoRT-LIS Derived Percentiles Important for Drought
    • Demonstration of Percentiles, Differences, and Layer RSM – what do these really mean for my own applications?

Part 2: Early and Established Applications of LIS for Drought Analysis in Operations

• SPoRT-LIS Early Use and Value in Local Operations; Application of Percentile and Differences (25-30 minutes)
• US Drought Monitor Application of SPoRT-LIS with Existing Data and Methods (15-20 minutes)
• State/Regional Climate Application of SPoRT-LIS for Drought Trend Assessments (15-20 minutes)
• Q&A Session (20-30 minutes)

Guest Instructors

Kris White, Richard Heim, Barrett Smith, Corey Davis

Materials

• Part 2 Presentation Slides (PDF, 22.3 MB)
• Part 2 Q&A Document (PDF, 0.2 MB)
  • [OPTIONAL] Self-Paced Item 2a: Drought Analysis Application in CONUS and International Domain Example
    • Example exercise to test understanding of SME application concepts
    • International Domain Example: Apply lessons from live session in unknown area
  • [OPTIONAL] Self-Paced Item 2b: Best Practices with SPoRT-LIS
    • Discovery of appropriate uses to applying LIS output for Drought via interactive examples and decision making

Part 3: Access Data at Organization and Individual Levels

• Display of SPoRT-LIS CONUS Output via SPoRT Web Viewer
• Acquire and Display SPoRT-LIS CONUS GEOTIFF via QGIS
• Display and Differencing of SPoRT-LIS within Google Colab/Jupyter
• Q&A Session (20-30 minutes)

Guest Instructors

Jonathan Case, Matt Smith, Ryan Wade, Rob Junod

Materials

• Part 3 Presentation Slides (PDF, 1.1 MB)
• Part 3 Q&A Document (PDF, 0.2 MB)
• [OPTIONAL] Microlesson for Part 3 (Google CoLab/Jupyter Notebook)
  • Self-Paced Item 3a: Starter Guide for ingest/display (w/ code examples/snippets). Create Your Own Display and Difference Plots of Percentile or RSM (CONUS, International)
  • You will need access to Google Drive and Google Colab.
  • Download and install the latest version of QGIS.

Homework

• Homework (Due June 14, 2023)