The NOAA Drought Task Force's California Drought Assessment: Climate Narratives and Process
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Daniel Barrie, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Climate Program Office, Silver Spring, MD, United States and Annarita Mariotti, NOAA Climate Program Office, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Abstract:
In December 2014, the NOAA Drought Task Force Narrative Team released a report assessing causes and predictability of the 2011-2014 California drought. The report was led by Richard Seager with co-authorship by a number of Drought Task Force scientists at a broad array of institutions. This report on causes of the California drought builds on an ongoing Task Force narrative assessment activity, which previously produced a report on the 2012 Great Plains drought. Work performed to produce the California report was sponsored by the NOAA Climate Program Office's Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections program with additional research efforts contributed by the report authors. This paper will present background on the Drought Task Force, its narrative activity, efforts to prepare the California narrative assessment, and the report's release.
