SoCal NIDIS Working Group

[NaepcA1]

Dear SoCal NIDIS Participants:

Thank you for an exciting and productive meeting last Thursday. We made good progress toward the identification of information that would be useful for decision-making concerning droughts. I'll be following up with meeting notes (including copies of the powerpoint presentations), and scheduling the working groups. On that topic (and for the benefit of those who could not attend), we have two proposed working groups:

(1) "Your Drought Monitor" (YDM): the development and testing of a "drought information tool," where users can obtain information on water supply and other conditions, and customize the type, format, and scale of this information for their purposes. Ultimately, this tool could become part of a larger "drought information portal," which would provide one-stop-shopping for existing products (such as seasonal and interannual forecasts), along with information on how to understand and use the products.

(2) "Specialized Application" (SA): a partnership between a decision-maker (e.g., water agency) and a scientific team, with the goal of developing drought information that would be used to help inform a specific decision(s) and that could potentially reduce impacts and costs. An example would be the development of seasonal temperature forecasts, for specific areas and time periods, that could be used to help decide whether to release or hold back more water from reservoirs.

I have attached a file with names of potential participants for each of these working groups - based on hands raised during our meeting, and (for those who could not attend) my understanding of people's interests and needs.

Please let me know if you don't see your name, and you would like to be included in one or both groups (or if you see your name in one or both groups and you would rather not be included).

Again, my thanks to each of you, and I look forward to our activities ahead.

With kind regards,

Anne



Anne Steinemann

Visiting Researcher
Climate, Atmospheric Science, and Physical Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, U.C. San Diego

Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Public Affairs
University of Washington