Southeast Asia Drought Watch (SEADW)
Droughts in Southeast Asia negatively impact ecosystem services, food and water security, and biodiversity. These impacts are exacerbated by climate change, further highlighting the need for improved governance and decision-making in virtually all sectors. Southeast Asia Drought Watch (SEADW) helps to improve the operational, technological, and institutional capabilities to prepare for and respond to droughts in the Southeast Asia region; to support local decision-makers in drought monitoring, analysis, and forecasting; and to provide policymakers and growers with current and forecast drought indices to facilitate decision-making within the current growing season.
Features:
- Easy access and visualization of weekly historical, present, and forecasted drought conditions
- Impact-based Forecast and Warnings
- Weekly historical and forecasted weather conditions
- The data is updated every two weeks
- Long-term data availability/FTP data repository
- Availability of a variety of satellite and model-based drought indicators and a single composite drought indicator (CDI)
- Availability of a variety of soil, water balance, and energy balance variables
- More convenient access to data products
- Regional-level focused high-resolution information that can be used in local-level decisions
- Country level, different admin level areas of selections
- Generation of flexible time-series charts
- Download the map data in GIS formats
- Custom report generation
- Detailed guidance on using data streams for conditions monitoring and forecasting
- Feature articles/Knowledge products
- Climate projections data for long-term planning
Application Purpose
This integrated web-based information system is intended to (1) improve the operational, technological, and institutional capabilities to prepare for and respond to droughts in Southeast Asian region; (2) support local decision-makers in drought monitoring, analysis, and forecasting; (3) provide policymakers and growers with current and forecast drought indices to facilitate decision-making within the current growing season; and (4) Impact-based Forecast and Warnings. Subsequent functionality may include additional information relevant to decisions at sub-seasonal or multi-year temporal scales.
Application Uses
The system can be used to assist local governments and the agricultural sector with seasonal drought forecasting and in implementing short and long-term mitigation measures during and in advance of droughts. It can also be used to characterize droughts through accurate, reliable, and timely estimates of their severity and impacts. In addition, the system can inform assessments of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of drought on vulnerable people and water-related resource systems. And finally, it can help develop critical regional and local thresholds reflecting increasing levels of risk and vulnerability to drought, as agreed by stakeholders.
- Mekong River Commission
- Vietnam Academy of Water Resources
- Spatial Informatic Group
- Stockholm Environment Institute
Potential Users:
- Agriculture and Irrigation/Water Resources Departments
- National Meteorological and Hydrological Services
- National Disaster Management Organizations
- National Mekong Committees
- Government agencies responsible for agricultural policy, compensation programs, etc.
- Farmers
- Private companies dependent on seasonal crop outputs
- Private companies dependent on water resources
- Regional Hydro-Extreme Assessment System (RHEAS) Model developed by NASA JPL
- Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS)
- NCEP Reanalysis Data
- NMME Meteorological Forecast Data
- AMSR-E/SMAP/SMOS Soil Moisture
- MODIS Leaf Area Index Data
- MODIS Evapotranspiration Data
- Harmonized World Soil Database