Division (5) CEMS — European Drought Observatory (EDO)

EDO shall provide four modules for communicating water scarcity and drought.

1. (a)

   Monitoring and mapping module: allowing the visualisation of the spatial and temporal evolution of droughts using different indicators for rainfall, snow pack, temperature, soil moisture, groundwater, river flow, and vegetation health. Indicators shall be calculated from in-situ measurements (meteorological data, groundwater), model outputs (soil moisture, river flow), and satellite data (vegetation stress, soil moisture, land surface temperatures). Selected indicators shall be combined into alert levels for agriculture and ecosystem impacts;

2. (b)

   Forecasting module: providing forecasts of selected drought indicators;

3. (c)

   Data analysis module: allowing analyses and comparisons of temporal profiles of available indicators, their spatial comparison, and their aggregation to administrative units;

4. (d)

   Analytical reports for significant drought events, analysing their extent and severity, as well as the potential impacts.