Drought 2010-2012
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- Visualizations by:
- Helen-Nicole Kostis
- View full credits
The Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) provides objective, high-resolution information about the evaporation of water from land surface. The ESI model combines satellite data with other meteorological factors to determine how much water is used by crops and vegetation. The resulting data helps to detect drought.
This visualization shows ESI data for 2010, 2011, and 2012. 2010 was a relatively wet year despite occasional drought. In 2011, the ESI shows extremely dry conditions across all of Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, tracking one of the country's most devastating droughts. In 2012, the ESI shows plant stress in the Corn Belt region as early as May. These warning signs later developed into a full drought that impacted the world's corn and soy been supply.
The kind of early-warning detection system ESI provides will enhance the US arsenal of drought monitoring tools and help farmers adapt to drought before it evolves.
The ESI tracking system monitors drought by picking up signals of plant stress. This narrated visualization demonstrates how drought developed in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
For complete transcript, click here.
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animators
- Helen-Nicole Kostis (USRA) [Lead]
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
- Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)
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Writer
- Kathryn Hansen (SSAI)
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Video editor
- Michael Randazzo (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
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Scientists
- Chris Hain (NASA/MSFC)
- Martha C. Anderson (USDA-ARS-Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory)
- Wayne P. Dulaney (USDA-ARS-Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory)
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Producers
- Alison Schuyler Ogden (NASA/GSFC)
- Matthew Radcliff (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
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Evaporative Stress Index (ESI)
ID: 963Credit: USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory (M.C. Anderson) and the NOAA-NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research (C.R. Hain and X. Zhan).
This dataset can be found at: https://hrsl.ba.ars.usda.gov/drought/about.php
See all pages that use this dataset
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related Pages
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ID: 11151 Produced Video
Parched
Read moreRain let up and sweltering temperatures descended on the central U.S. in July 2012. On the ground, farmers saw crops wilt. From space, NASA and other satellites saw a pattern of drought spread across multiple states. When plants lack water, the stress ratchets up the temperature of their leaves. Likewise, when soil moisture is plentiful, plant leaves cool down. Instruments on satellites can detect this micro-scale biological response, giving scientists a new way of looking at drought on a large scale. In fact, the satellite instruments are capable of sensing imminent damage before plants themselves begin to wilt, potentially giving farmers an important warning weeks early. The visualization shows changing plant stress conditions across the U.S. from March 2010 to September 2012, including the impact of a 2012 summer heat wave that marked the most severe and extensive drought in the past 25 years. ||
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