Earth  ID: 4015

Drought 2010-2012

Visualizations by Helen-Nicole Kostis Released on December 5, 2012
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.
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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.

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Still image showing Evaporative Stress Index data from June 24, 2011, with a high level of drought in east Texas and Louisiana.
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Still image showing Evaporative Stress Index data from August 18, 2012, when the drought in the mideast US was extremely high and spread over several states.
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Evaporative Stress Index color scale.
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Individual frames of the visualization that show the background and the Evaporative Stress Index data.
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Individual frames of the visualization that show only the clock of the seasons with alpha channel. Can be laid over top of the data layer.
 

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Visualization Credits

Helen-Nicole Kostis (USRA): Lead Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Michael Randazzo (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.): Video Editor
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Producer
Alison Schuyler Ogden (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Martha C. Anderson (USDA-ARS-Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory): Scientist
Wayne P. Dulaney (USDA-ARS-Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory): Scientist
Chris Hain (NASA/MSFC): Scientist
Kathryn Hansen (Wyle Information Systems): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4015

Data Used:
Evaporative Stress Index (ESI)
Credit:
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).
view all stories where this data set is used
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.

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Keywords:
SVS >> Drought
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Location >> United States Of America
SVS >> Hyperwall
DLESE >> Narrated
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0