GC41C-1103
Spatial-temporal dynamics of agricultural drought in the tallgrass prairie region of the Southern Great Plains during 2000-2013
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Yuting Zhou1,2, Xiangming Xiao1,2, Geli Zhang1,2, Rajen Bajgain1,2, Jinwei Dong1,2, Yuanwei Qin1,2, Cui Jin1,2, Pradeep Wagle1,2, Jeffrey B Basara3,4, Heather R McCarthy2, Martha C. Anderson5, Christopher Hain6 and Jason Otkin7, (1)University of Oklahoma, Center for Spatial Analysis, Norman, OK, United States, (2)University of Oklahoma, Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, Norman, OK, United States, (3)University of Oklahoma, School of Meteorology, Norman, OK, United States, (4)Oklahoma Climate Survey, Norman, OK, United States, (5)Agricultural Research Service Beltsville, Beltsville, MD, United States, (6)Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, COLLEGE PARK, MD, United States, (7)Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, Madison, WI, United States
Abstract:
Tallgrass prairie is an important ecosystem type and a major feed for beef cattle in the Southern Great Plains (SGP: Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas). Frequent drought in the SGP affects the production of tallgrass prairie and ultimately the beef cattle production. It is, therefore, necessary to map drought vulnerable areas to help ranchers adapt cattle industry to drought conditions. In this study, we analyzed Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) calculated from near infrared and shortwave infrared bands of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and quantified the spatial-temporal dynamics of agricultural drought in the tallgrass prairie region of the SGP during 2000-2013. The number of days with LSWI < 0 during the thermal growing season (start and end dates as well as duration of land surface temperature > 5 °C) was defined as the duration of drought to generate drought duration maps for each year. Following the decreasing rainfall gradient from east to west in the SGP, counties in the west experienced whole growing season drought (WGSZ) more (three or more out of 14 years with WGSD), middle counties had one to two months summer drought, and eastern counties experienced less drought (mainly one year with WGSD and less than one month of summer drought). The LSWI-based drought duration map showed similar patterns with Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) and U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) in wet, summer drought, and whole growing season drought years. Our drought map has identified the vulnerability of counties to different droughts (summer drought and whole growing season drought) in the SGP. This finer resolution (500 m) drought map has the potential to show the drought condition for individual ranch, which can be used to guide drought mitigation activities and livestock production.
