U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Circular 1430

USGS Integrated Drought Science
Cover image credits:

Lizard: © Val_Iva

World: NASA Visible Earth

Mojave Desert: © tupungato

Sagebrush: Public domain

Colorado River: Public domain

Bulltrout: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Joel Sartore

Burning sagegrush: Public domain

Satellite: NASA
USGS Integrated Drought Science

By Andrea C. Ostroff, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Patrick M. Lambert, 

Nathaniel L. Booth, Shawn L. Carter, Jason M. Stoker, and 

Michael J. Focazio

USGS Coordinated and Integrated Drought Science

Circular 1430

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior

RYAN K. ZINKE, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

William H. Werkheiser, Acting Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2017

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Suggested citation:

Ostroff, A.C., Muhlfeld, C.C., Lambert, P.M., Booth, N.L., Carter, S.L., Stoker, J.M., and Focazio, M.J., 2017, USGS 

integrated drought science: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1430, 24 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1430.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ostroff, Andrea C. (Andrea Christina), 1974- author. | Geological

 Survey (U.S.), issuing body.

Title: USGS integrated drought science / by Andrea C. Ostroff [and six

 others].

Other titles: United States Geological Survey integrated drought science |

 U.S. Geological Survey circular ; 1430.

Description: Reston, Virginia : U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S.

 Geological Survey, [2017] | Series: Circular ; 1430 | Includes

 bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017023363 | ISBN 9781411341371 pbk.

Subjects: LCSH: Droughts--United States--Data processing. | Droughts--United

 States--Management. | Droughts--United States--Planning. |

 Droughts--United States--Communication systems. | Droughts--Government

 policy--United States. | Water use--Technological innovations--United

 States.

Classification: LCC QC929.26 .O88 2017 | DDC 551.57/73--dc23 | SUDOC I

 19.4/2:1430

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023363 ISSN 2330-5703

ISSN 1067-084X (print)

ISSN 2330-5703 (online)
Contents

Project Need and Overview.........................................................................................................................1

Goals and Objectives.....................................................................................................................................2

USGS Role in Federal Drought Resilience Plan .......................................................................................2

Current USGS Drought Projects and Capabilities ....................................................................................6

GOAL 1: Data Collection and Integration ..........................................................................................6

GOAL 2: Communicating Drought Risk to Critical Infrastructure..................................................8

GOAL 3: Drought Planning and Capacity Building.........................................................................10

Stakeholder Needs......................................................................................................................................11

USGS Mission Area Capabilities...............................................................................................................14

Integrated Drought Science Approach....................................................................................................16

Near-Term Opportunities............................................................................................................................18

Deliver Integrated Products about Drought...................................................................................18

Develop Integrated Ecohydrological Monitoring Networks to Assess Drought 

Impacts and Improve Conservation and Management .........................................19

USGS Drought Online Resource and Communication...........................................................................21

USGS Drought Partnerships and Coordination.......................................................................................22

A New Path Forward...................................................................................................................................23

References Cited..........................................................................................................................................24

Figures

1. Actual and potential roles of the U.S. Geological Survey in the Long-Term Drought

Resilience Federal Action Plan of the National Drought Resilience Partnership..............5

2. Conceptual diagram of steps needed to implement the USGS Integrated Drought

Science Plan. ..............................................................................................................................17

3. Ecohydrological research and monitoring network is an example integrated

drought project concept............................................................................................................20

4. The USGS Drought Website provides a single location to find drought-related

USGS products, tools and publications ..................................................................................21

iii
iv

USGS Drought Team

Andrea Ostroff | USGS Drought Coordinator | aostroff@usgs.gov

Clint Muhlfeld | Ecosystems | cmuhlfeld@usgs.gov

Patrick Lambert | Water | plambert@usgs.gov

Nate Booth | Water | nlbooth@usgs.gov

Shawn Carter | Climate & Land Use Change | scarter@usgs.gov

Jason Stoker | Core Science Systems | jstoker@usgs.gov

Mike Focazio | Environmental Health | mfocazio@usgs.gov
Project Need and Overview 1

USGS Integrated Drought Science

By Andrea C. Ostroff, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Patrick M. Lambert, Nathaniel L. Booth, 

Shawn L. Carter, Jason M. Stoker, and Michael J. Focazio

The USGS is organized into seven 

Mission Areas that focus on some 

of the most significant issues facing 

society. Understanding drought 

processes will require capabilities 

from all the USGS Mission Areas 

including Water, Ecosystems, Climate 

and Land Use Change, Core Science 

Systems, Environmental Health, Natural 

Hazards, and Energy and Minerals.

Project Need and Overview

Drought poses a serious threat to the resilience of human communities and 

ecosystems in the United States (Easterling and others, 2000). Over the past several 

years, many regions have experienced extreme drought conditions, fueled by prolonged 

periods of reduced precipitation and exceptionally warm temperatures. Extreme drought 

has far-reaching impacts on water 

supplies, ecosystems, agricultural 

production, critical infrastructure, 

energy costs, human health, and 

local economies (Milly and others, 

2005; Wihlite, 2005; Vörösmarty 

and others, 2010; Choat and others, 

2012; Ledger and others, 2013). 

As global temperatures continue to 

increase, the frequency, severity, 

extent, and duration of droughts are 

expected to increase across North 

America, affecting both humans 

and natural ecosystems (Parry and 

others, 2007). 

The U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) has a long, proven history 

of delivering science and tools to help decision-makers manage and mitigate effects 

of drought. That said, there is substantial capacity for improved integration and 

coordination in the ways that the USGS provides drought science. A USGS Drought 

Team was formed in August 2016 to work across USGS Mission Areas to identify 

current USGS drought-related research and core capabilities. This information has been 

used to initiate the development of an integrated science effort that will bring the full 

USGS capacity to bear on this national crisis. 
2 USGS Integrated Drought Science

Goals and Objectives

To address the issue of drought and build long-term resilience to drought at local, regional, 

and national levels, the USGS has developed a coordinated and integrated drought science plan. 

The plan presents a new path for understanding 

the complexity of drought issues and the impact 

of drought on human and natural systems. This 

understanding can inform policy and decisionmaking for adaptation and mitigation. The 

primary objectives of the USGS Integrated 

Drought Science Plan introduced in this 

document are to increase coordination among 

Mission Areas and to demonstrate the potential 

of broadened integration of USGS capacities for 

comprehensive response to stakeholders’ needs.

Ultimately, the desired outcomes of USGS 

integrated drought science are to gain additional 

practicable understanding of complex 

interactions that determine drought and drought 

effects; describe uncertainties associated with 

drought causes and effects; develop robust 

models to predict drought risk and vulnerability 

for planning and mitigation purposes; advance 

efforts in coordinated drought science that will 

lead to development of drought-monitoring 

systems; and deliver decision-support science to help Federal, State, Tribal, regional, and local 

stakeholders prepare and manage for the future across the United States.

USGS Role in Federal Drought Resilience Plan 

Drought is a prolonged and widespread deficit in available water supplies that may cause 

substantial economic or social impacts, or physical damage or injury to individuals, property, or 

the environment (Wihlite, 2005). Droughts can be defined in four ways:

• Meteorological drought is below-normal precipitation, 

• Hydrological drought is below-normal availability of surface water and groundwater, 

• Agricultural drought is various characteristics of meteorological and hydrological 

drought applied to agricultural effects, and 

• Ecological drought is deficits in natural water availability that create multiple stressors 

across ecosystems. 

Impacts of drought are complex and multifaceted, but generally can be classified as economic, 

environmental, and social. Human population growth, additional land and water uses by people, 

and global warming are expected to exacerbate the frequency and severity of future droughts 

in many regions of the United States (Easterling and others, 2000). In response, the Federal 

Government has introduced new measures to help the United States anticipate and cope with 

drought by focusing on short-term and long-term drought-resilience issues. 

The USGS Integrated Drought 

Science Plan seeks to improve 

understanding of drought processes 

and impacts on human and natural 

systems through coordinated and 

multidisciplinary data collection, 

synthesis, analysis, and predictions 

generated from USGS Mission Areas 

and various partnerships. The goal 

is to provide decision-support tools 

and technologies to stakeholders 

for enhancing drought resilience, 

adaptation, and mitigation.
USGS Role in Federal Drought Resilience Plan 3

Summary of Key Goals and Strategies

Data Collection and Integration

• Strengthen data observation and monitoring networks to maximize spatial and 

temporal coverages, provide reliable operation and near-real-time delivery, increase 

interoperability of networks among agencies, and improve early warnings.

• Improve data collection during and after drought events to gather critical, timedependent information. 

• Develop and advance new monitoring tools and technologies. 

• Facilitate citizen science for crowdsourced data related to water availability. 

Understanding Drought Processes and Impacts

• Synthesize datasets and models to improve understanding of factors that cause 

drought and how they interact with one another, and how systems respond 

to drought.

• Promote and conduct targeted research addressing drought processes, extreme 

events, impacts, risk, and response.

• Develop robust models to predict drought risk and vulnerability for 

decision-making. 

• Examine and synthesize ecological impacts of drought for 

conservation management.

• Promote multi-disciplinary research, integrated assessments, predictive modeling, 

and knowledge transfer to address drought complexity and uncertainty.

• Identify the unintended consequences of drought management leading to 

environmental pathways of contaminant exposures to humans and other organisms.

Drought Planning and Decision Support

• Predict future drought vulnerability of species and ecosystems with comprehensive 

understanding of drought processes, ecosystem impacts, and recovery times.

• Deliver decision-support guides that link research, monitoring, forecasting, and early 

warning with risk planning and management. 

• Provide technical assistance to address stakeholders’ needs.

• Create and deliver effective multimedia to communicate drought through 

partnerships with stakeholders, decision-makers, and the public.

• Produce knowledge products that inform decisions to minimize risk of 

contaminant exposures.
4 USGS Integrated Drought Science

In 2013, the Federal Administration established the National Drought Resilience 

Partnership (NDRP), an interagency Federal working group initiative, as part of the national 

Climate Action Plan. The NDRP was formed to advance national-level drought-resilience 

capabilities by helping communities prepare for and mitigate the impacts of drought on 

livelihoods and economies. A 2016 Presidential Memorandum directed Federal agencies to 

build national capabilities for long-term drought resilience using existing resources and under 

existing authorities (The White House, 2016). The memorandum also tasked the NDRP to 

deliver a Federal action plan to promote drought resilience nationwide. 

The Long-Term Drought Resilience Federal Action Plan (Action Plan) specifies six goals 

and corresponding actions for each goal. The goals are:

Goal 1: Data Collection and Integration 

Goal 2: Communicating of Drought Risk to Critical Infrastructure 

Goal 3: Drought Planning and Capacity Building 

Goal 4: Coordination of Federal Drought Activity 

Goal 5: Market-Based Approaches for Infrastructure and Efficiency 

Goal 6: Innovative Water Use, Efficiency, and Technology 

Furthermore, the Action Plan outlines how NDRP Federal agencies can use existing authorities 

to work with State, Tribal, regional, and local partners to respond to drought and implement 

strategies for long-term resilience.

The USGS is identified as a lead or supporting Federal agency to implement a number 

of actions under three goals of the Action Plan (fig. 1). The first goal, Data Collection and 

Integration, aims to integrate existing data and information sources for regional-level use 

by integrating data from key platforms. The USGS serves as a lead coordinating agency for 

data integration from key platforms. Accomplishments associated with this implementation 

action will help assess, strengthen, and connect existing space-based, airborne, and terrestrial 

data-collection and monitoring capabilities, such as surface-water and groundwater quantity 

and quality, snowpack, soil moisture, and biological datasets. This integration also helps to 

make data and information easily accessible. The USGS was identified to serve a supporting 

role to Communicating Drought Risk to Critical Infrastructure through development 

of drought decision-support systems for critical infrastructure stakeholders. The USGS was 

specifically named as a supporting agency for Drought Planning and Capacity Building by 

enhancing national data coverage through citizen science, developing models to identify and 

predict ecosystem and human-health risks for specific locations and populations, and examining 

ecological impacts of drought across the United States.
USGS Role in Federal Drought Resilience Plan 5

tac17-1137_fig01

EXPLANATION

DOI Lead – USGS named

DOI Lead – USGS potential lead

DOI Lead – other agencies have 

primary role

DOI Supporting – USGS named

DOI Supporting – other agencies 

have primary role

ACTIONS

GOALS

(6) Innovative 

Water Use 

Efficiency and 

Technology

(4) Coordination of 

Federal Drought 

Activity

(3) Drought Planning 

and Capacity 

Building

Coordinate planning 

and capacitybuilding programs

Improve modeling 

and prediction

Encourage federal 

reservoir surveys

Integrate data from 

key platforms

Enhance national 

data coverage: 

Facilitate citizen 

science

Develop data models 

to identify populations at risk to health 

effects of drought

Examine ecological

impacts of drought 

across the United 

States

Strengthen rural 

drinking water 

contingency plans

Support state, tribal, 

local, and territorial 

health departments

(1) Data Collection 

and Integration

(2) Communicating 

Drought Risk to 

Critical 

Infrastructure

Study Long-term 

drought impacts 

on critical 

infrastructure

Create drought 

decision-support 

guides for critical 

infrastructure 

stakeholders

(5) Market-based 

Approaches for 

Infrastructure and 

Efficiency

Figure 1. Actual and potential roles of the U.S. Geological Survey in the 

Long-Term Drought Resilience Federal Action Plan of the National Drought 

Resilience Partnership.
6 USGS Integrated Drought Science

Current USGS Drought Projects and Capabilities

The broad expertise of USGS researchers and the engagement of regional and local USGS 

administrators and scientists with local and regional stakeholders facilitate broad response to all six 

goals in the Action Plan. Here, a number of notable examples of existing USGS projects and products 

are highlighted for each of the three goals where the USGS is specifically named as a lead or supporting 

agency. This sampling of projects and products is by no means comprehensive, but demonstrates the 

breadth and scope of USGS drought-related research and monitoring.

GOAL 1: Data Collection and Integration

Objective: Agencies shall share data and information related to drought, water use, and water 

availability, including data on snowpack, groundwater, streamflow, and soil moisture, with State, 

regional, Tribal, and local officials to strengthen decision-making to support more adaptive responses to 

drought and drought risk.

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program: Measuring and assessing 

the Nation’s water resources through basic hydrologic monitoring, providing foundational 

information for preparation and response to drought. Assessment and integration of these 

nationwide datasets define the current status and recent trends in surface-water supply and 

groundwater storage.

Western Drought Resilience Assessment: Assessing streamflow resilience and drought 

susceptibility at more than 2,500 monitoring locations in the Nation’s Western Basins. Goals 

for this fine-scale information program include documenting the severity of ongoing Western 

drought and assessing watershed sensitivity to drought, including reduced baseflows and 

increased water temperatures.

Regional Groundwater Assessments—Central Valley of California

Groundwater—Availability Project: Applying detailed USGS hydrologic-system 

computer models to assess how the current California drought affects hydrologic conditions 

and subsidence in the Central Valley of California.

Western Mountain Initiative: Documenting responses of forests in the Western United 

States to disturbance and changing climate, evaluating vulnerability of forests to disturbance 

and drought, and evaluating forest response to hydrologic variability and drought.

Ecohydrological Research and Monitoring Networks in the Rocky Mountains:

Using novel methods, collecting data about streamflow, water temperature, and biology 

across stream networks in the Rocky Mountains to understand effects of climatic variation 

and drought on native trout populations and other aquatic organisms including organism 

interactions with invasive species. Results can be used to design optimal strategies for 

investing in future monitoring and modeling of aquatic ecosystems.

National Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI): A National 

cooperative program of amphibian monitoring and research led by the USGS to support 

conservation. Scientists study status and trends of amphibian populations and their life 

histories, measure and monitor environmental characteristics, and research potential causes of 

decline to inform management across the United States. 
Current USGS Drought Projects and Capabilities 7

Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) Tool: Drought-monitoring tool 

that produces maps every 2 weeks that combine satellite-based observations of vegetation 

conditions with climate and environmental data to provide drought information for the 

United States.

Global Croplands Project: Using remote-sensing data, especially Landsat data, to map 

cropland extent and crop types, to support managing water supplies for both energy and food 

production to advance global food security.

Essential Climate Variables: Developing research-quality operational products using 

historical, current, and future Landsat data. The terrestrial variables represent specific 

geophysical and biophysical properties of the land surface, including extent of surface water, 

burned area, snow-covered area, and biomass, all useful for evaluating drought effects on 

terrestrial ecosystems.

Remote Sensing Monitoring of Irrigation Water Use: Conducting remote sensing of 

evapotranspiration amounts and vegetation health to allow for the quantification of water used 

in agricultural production and effects of use levels on yields. This research supports improved 

understanding of vegetation dynamics and relationships between croplands, drought, water, 

and food security. The USGS is working to test and implement these approaches in the United 

States and globally (USAID Famine Early Warning System).

National Land Cover Database (NLCD): Serves as the definitive Landsat-based, 30-meter 

resolution, land-cover database for the Nation. Providing spatial reference and descriptive data 

for characteristics of the land surface, such as thematic class (urban, agriculture, and forest), 

percent impervious surface, and percent cover of tree canopies.

USA National Phenology Network: As a consortium member, collecting, sharing, and 

using phenology data, models, and information to promote a broad understanding of plant 

and animal phenology and associations between phenology and environmental change. 

Professionals and “citizen scientists” collect phenological observations that are integrated and 

used to inform decision-making, including drought monitoring.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity Project: Providing a national analysis of trends in 

burn severity for the National Fire Plan. Because of severe droughts and greater-than-normal 

numbers of catastrophic fires since 2000, it is important for the trend analysis to account for 

potential climate variability and to base the assessment on a longer period of time than the last 

several years.

USGS National Brackish Groundwater Assessment: Identifying and characterizing 

significant brackish aquifers and water supplies in the United States. Development of brackish 

groundwater as an alternative water source for suitable uses can help address concerns about 

the future availability of water as demands increase in the face of climate variability and 

potentially intensifying periods of drought.

WaterWatch: Providing Web-accessible maps, graphs, and tables describing real-time, 

recent, and past streamflow conditions for the United States, including locations where extreme 

hydrologic events are occurring, such as floods and droughts.

Landsat Archive and Access: Providing continuous global Earth-observing data. This 

includes data collected for more than 40 years and that serve as the foundation for large-scale 

land-cover mapping to detect land change over time.
8 USGS Integrated Drought Science

GOAL 2: Communicating Drought Risk to Critical Infrastructure

Objective: Agencies shall communicate with State, regional, Tribal, local, and critical infrastructure 

officials, targeted information about drought risks, including specific risks to critical infrastructure.

Developing a Coastal Salinity Drought Index: Characterizing the salinity-dynamics 

response in the Carolina coastal regions to drought using real-time and historical USGS salinity 

datasets and data-collection programs.

Climate Change Effects on Hydrologic Cycle—Effect of Drought on Runoff from

Snow: Investigating changes in runoff from winter snowpack in the Rocky Mountains. Pacific 

ocean-atmosphere variability and trends are tracked to assess their effects on decadal variability 

in snowpack runoff in these mountains. 

Groundwater Discharge Vulnerability to Drought: Examining short-term response of 

groundwater systems to climate stresses, including drought at a regional scale, by assessing 

groundwater age. The project develops tools to identify areas of groundwater vulnerable to 

drought and climate variability within the basin of interest.

Tree Growth in Swamps across Drought and Salinity Gradients along the Northern

Gulf Coast: Examining potential effects of climate-change-induced sea-level rise, drought, and 

water extraction using tree-growth patterns across the Gulf Coast, specifically targeting long-term 

research plots in the North American Bald Cypress Swamp Network and the Suwannee River.

Understanding Effects of Climate Change on Hawaiian Plants: Developing vulnerability 

models and conducting experiments to assess current and future ecological and evolutionary 

responses of Hawaiian plants associated with climate change and sea-level-rise predictions. 

This research considers more than 1,000 species, including 319 protected under the Endangered 

Species Act.

Drought and Fish Disease in the Pacific Northwest: Assessing mass mortalities of salmon, 

sturgeon, trout, and whitefish from disease in areas of the Pacific Northwest. Results will be used 

to predict how future hydrologic and thermal conditions experienced during extreme droughts 

may impact fishes of socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological importance in the Western United 

States.

Climate Change and Ecological Drought Impacts on Dryland Ecosystems: Conducting 

research in the arid Southwest to understand spatiotemporal patterns of increasing aridity on 

soil moisture and effects on ecosystem structure and function, including effects on plants, soils, 

biological soil crusts, microbial communities, biogeochemical cycles, plant-soil interactions, and 

vegetation dynamics.

Drought and Fire: Investigating the processes of drought as a stressor that can enhance wildfire 

activity, which in turn, can affect vegetation and soil organic-matter recovery after wildfire. The 

project also assesses post-wildfire hyper-dryness impacts on infiltration rates, soil-water content, 

and vegetation recovery.
Current USGS Drought Projects and Capabilities 9

Regulated River Flow Assessments: Working with stakeholders in the Columbia and 

Colorado River Basins to manage dams for power generation, water supplies, flood risk 

management, and recovery of fish (salmon, steelhead, trout, sturgeon), wildlife, and ecosystem 

processes during periods of drought and decrease summer flows.

Groundwater and Temperature Modeling for Eastern Native Trout: Developing 

models that account for groundwater influences on thermal sensitivity to forecast climate change 

effects on stream temperature and native brook trout thermal habitat within forested watersheds in 

eastern North America.

Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection: Providing continuous, structured, 

operational, and timely collection and delivery of analysis-ready Earth-observing data, 

information, and knowledge on land use, cover, and condition. This project evaluates climate 

change and drought impacts on land change.

Long-Term Patterns of Natural Hydroclimate Variability: Useing paleo-climate data to 

document and synthesize patterns of long-term hydroclimate change across the Nation. Products 

can be used to evaluate the performance of climate models that predict future temperature and 

rainfall patterns.

Drivers of Drought: Using remote-sensing technologies to identify deviations from normal 

conditions in ecosystems that indicate threats to vulnerable communities in the form of drought, 

floods, disease outbreaks, or other hazards.

Holocene Hydroclimate of Western North America: Developing paleoclimate archives 

of temperature, precipitation, and corresponding environmental change that extend through the 

Holocene, including temporal variability and spatial patterns. 

Paleohydrology of Desert Wetlands: Determining the hydrologic response of springs and 

desert wetlands to abrupt climate change events. The focus is to reconstruct changes in watertable levels in desert wetlands during the late Quaternary using wetland deposits exposed in 

outcrops and by sampling existing wetlands.

Impacts of Drought on Fish and Wildlife in the Southwest: Improving knowledge of 

individual behavioral changes (for desert bighorn sheep) and overall population changes (for 

pronghorn, trout, and quail) that occur in response to drought.

Effects of Drought on Vegetation Phenology and Migratory Wildlife: Assessing 

interactions among organisms and their environment, including how drought influences 

vegetation phenology, to better understand the potential effects on herbivores.

Assessing Impacts of Drought on Migratory Waterbirds in Key Western

Conservation Regions: Examining potential impacts of drought on wetland-dependent 

migratory waterbirds in the Central Valley and interior basins of the Western United States.
10 USGS Integrated Drought Science

GOAL 3: Drought Planning and Capacity Building

Objective: Agencies shall assist State, regional, Tribal, and local officials in building local planning 

capacity for drought preparedness and resilience.

Hydrologic Cycle and Water Supply—Atmospheric Rivers: Investigating relevance of 

naturally occurring parts of the global water cycle on drought prediction and persistence in the 

Western United States. Investigating atmospheric rivers as pathways of water vapor and their impact 

on water supply and role as drought busters.

Drought Preparedness and Risk Reduction in Russian River Watershed, California: 

Evaluating drought-related precipitation characteristics and prediction to aid in drought planning 

in the Russian River Watershed, including appropriate balancing of water supply and floodmanagement operations through informed operation of regional storage infrastructure.

Stream Drying in the Western United States: Using remote-sensing data, temperature 

records, citizen science, and fish surveys to assess and predict streamflow permanence and drought 

conditions in the Great Basin and Pacific Northwest. The project develops planning tools to link 

water quality, land use, and conservation of sensitive species (native trout, amphibians, song birds, 

and greater sage-grouse).

Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) Ecological Drought Working Group:

In a collaborative setting, defining ecological drought and developing applications for drought 

adaptation that bolster intact, functioning ecosystems that benefit people and nature.

Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Project: Documenting the effects of hydrologic variability 

and landscape changes on hydrologic and biogeochemical fluxes in five small watersheds 

representing a range of ecosystems. This research supports effort to inform the public, government, 

and land managers about issues concerning water supplies and provides specific guidance to identify 

effective responses.

Coastal Ecosystem Response to Climate Change: Assessing the vulnerability of nearshore 

habitats and their dependent wildlife along the Pacific coast from sea-level rise and episodic storms. 

This interdisciplinary research program supports coastal land managers and policy makers who are 

developing adaptation plans for nearshore habitats to sustain ecosystem functions and services, such 

as fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and flood protection.

New Jersey Drought Watch: Providing local-to-regional hydrologic monitoring, data synthesis, 

and dissemination for assessing drought indicators for regional water-supply sources. In a 

collaboration involving the USGS and the State of New Jersey, drought indicators are developed 

and conveyed to decision makers by integrating data from streamgages, low-flow partial record 

streamgages, and continuous-record and groundwater measurements.

USGS Science Application for Risk Reduction (SAFRR): Examining how water supply is 

stressed in the Southwest and how other climate-related extremes, such as forest fires, landslides, 

longer heat waves, sea-level rise, and more extreme storms, might influence non-water-supply 

sectors and how they could affect resilience to other natural hazards.

Understanding the Ecological Impacts of Drought across the United States: 

Synthesizing knowledge related to the regional impacts of ecological drought among all U.S. 

Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers, and developing tools and products that are 

relevant for decision-making.
Stakeholder Needs 11

Stakeholder Needs

Through this planning effort, information is gathered about key stakeholders concerned with drought-related issues and their 

needs from all regions of the United States. Primary stakeholders include Federal agencies, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Army Corps of Engineers, National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Forest Service; State 

agencies, such as departments of natural resources, fish and wildlife, public health, and water resources; cities and counties; 

hydropower companies; farmers, landowners; and Tribes. A review of nationwide stakeholder-identified needs in the West and 

East reveals several commonalities. These can be aggregated into three key needs: drought monitoring and modeling, identifying 

drought impacts, and facilitating drought planning.

Drought Monitoring and Modeling

Nationwide, stakeholders emphasize the importance of data collection and monitoring to characterize water 

supplies, understand drought-risk conditions, and reveal unintended consequences of mitigation scenarios. These 

outcomes can be achieved by developing new approaches to adapt existing monitoring systems, such as the USGS 

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program and the National Integrated Drought Information System, so 

they can better address stakeholder needs. These types of data can be used to monitor current conditions and as 

indicators for drought forecasting. Although drought monitoring is already relatively commonplace, stakeholders 

emphasize the importance of continuing to collect these data, improve monitoring and modeling techniques, and 

make data and information easily accessible and compatible with geospatial data platforms.

Drought forecasting in light of the uncertainties posed by climate change.

Understanding potential frequency, duration, and spatial extent of future droughts to 

enable managers of natural resources and water utilities to better prepare and enhance 

resiliency of ecosystems and communities.

Understanding groundwater effects on streamflow and temperature regimes.

Developing predictive models to identify areas most vulnerable to drought and to 

understand how climate change may alter drought conditions.

Monitoring important drought variables, including stream discharge, groundwater 

flows, soil moisture, and water reuse.

Monitoring and predicting stream temperatures and groundwater-influenced stream 

reaches to identify aquatic habitats that provide coldwater refuge for at-risk species 

of aquatic life.

Prioritizing streams for habitat protection and restoration, with consideration of 

future conditions anticipated with climate change.

Predicting areas susceptible to future wildfires and megadroughts.

Monitoring and predicting drought effects on disease outbreaks and impacts to 

fish populations. 

Developing improved monitoring capabilities for early warning.
12 USGS Integrated Drought Science

Drought Impacts

Across the nation, stakeholders seek an improved understanding of how drought affects fish and wildlife 

(particularly threatened and endangered species), ecosystems (terrestrial and aquatic), and the human communities 

that depend on ecosystem services to meet municipal, agricultural, industrial, and recreational water needs. This 

question is of particular concern to communities and Tribal sovereigns that rely on fish as a major subsistence 

food-source, as well as to State and Federal agencies in the West concerned with protecting endangered salmon and 

managing recreational and commercial fisheries. 

Potential impacts of drought on water availability and quality as it relates to water 

supplies, production, opportunities, ecosystem services, and how these competing 

demands may be balanced during drought.

In coastal areas, information about drought and the potential for increased saltwater 

encroachment due to reduced freshwater flushing. Saltwater encroachment could 

have consequences for potable water supplies and the ability to release treated 

wastewater into rivers.

Potential exposures to environmental contaminants associated with water reuse 

activities, shifting patterns in use of pesticides and other land-applied chemicals, and 

movement and inhalation of dust.

 

Impacts of drought on water availability, particularly on critical water sources, such 

as the Colorado and Columbia Rivers.

Understanding how drought influences wildfire regimes, forest pests, such as pine 

bark beetles, and sensitive habitats, such as sagebrush and pinyon-pine systems.

Understanding how drought-induced reductions in stream flows, increases in water 

temperatures, and disease outbreaks affect fish, particularly coldwater species. 

Understanding drought effects on species of concern, namely salmon and trout, 

amphibians, bats, grassland birds, prairie dogs, and pronghorn.
Stakeholder Needs 13

Drought Planning

Drought monitoring and drought assessment are critical steps towards addressing a major stakeholder 

need—determining what actions should be taken to plan for and mitigate drought effects and risks. Stakeholders 

nationwide are eager for decision support that will help them to proactively protect and prepare ecosystems and 

communities for drought—particularly in light of the uncertainties posed by climate change. 

Assessing whether current water-storage capacities will be sufficient to meet multiple 

demands under different drought scenarios.

Assessing whether systems for water treatment and distribution will be able to 

withstand drought.

Considering new development alternatives, such as green infrastructure, to improve 

water conservation strategies.

Understanding how to best plan for agricultural, meteorological, hydrological, and 

ecological effects of drought.

Balancing effects on salmon and trout populations with competing human and ecological 

demands for water.

Understanding if reuse water will meet municipal water supply needs, and if so, how to 

minimize exposure pathways to environmental contaminants in reuse waters.

Identifying streams most vulnerable to drought to help guide stream restoration and 

conservation efforts. 

Determining if reservoir and dam operations will be sufficient to meet future water, 

electricity, and fish-conservation needs.

Understanding if practices of land and water use for farming and grazing need to be 

altered in response to increasing water stress.
14 USGS Integrated Drought Science

USGS Mission Area Capabilities

USGS science focuses on some of the most significant issues facing society and 

ecosystems in the United States and the Earth. USGS science addresses seven topics:

• Water 

• Ecosystems

• Climate and Land Use Change

• Core Science Systems 

• Environmental Health 

• Natural Hazards

• Energy and Minerals 

Within this context, the USGS has a long and proven history of addressing drought-related 

issues through data collection and integration, assessing drought impacts, and delivering key 

science to inform decision making. These core strengths and capabilities are consistent with the 

primary roles of the USGS in the NDRP and key stakeholders and their information needs.

The Water Mission Area conducts research and provides information and understanding 

of groundwater and surface-water resources, and the integrated nature of the hydrologic 

system that enables informed preparation for and response to drought. Improved understanding 

begins with consistent and continuous collection and dissemination of hydrologic data. 

The USGS and its cooperators measure groundwater levels annually in more than 21,000 

wells, and monitor streamflow at more than 7,500 streamgages across the country. These 

systems provide knowledge of the range of variations in streamflow, and the reliable yield of 

reservoirs and aquifers. These data are made more useful through synthesis and incorporation 

into integrated hydrologic models capable of simultaneously accounting for changing water 

supply and demand, and simulating surface-water and groundwater occurrence and flow at 

a range of scales. Research and applied science programs also focus on the underpinnings 

of such modeling and decisions-support tools, including assessment of drought triggers and 

understanding and defining the physical characteristics of impacted hydrologic systems. 

Combined, these data products, research, and assessment tools inform the current and potential 

future status of water supplies and test the consequences to water users and ecosystems of 

plausible future drought scenarios.

The Ecosystems Mission Area conducts drought-related research and monitoring in 

freshwater, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems, commonly with specific studies of fish and 

wildlife inhabiting these ecosystems. Scientists work extensively with partners to collect 

and disseminate scientific and statistically reliable biological and ecological data to address 

drought-related scientific and management questions. Ecosystem scientists use this information 

and innovative technologies to synthesize, analyze, and model drought processes and biological 

responses to understand the causes and associated impacts of drought on aquatic and terrestrial 

ecosystems. By integrating climatic, physical, and biological data with emerging approaches 

in landscape ecology, researchers are quantifying and modeling drought impacts and risk to 

native plants and animals, invasive species, disease outbreaks, forest health, biogeochemical 

processes, fire regimes, and communities across the Nation. These biological data, research 

products, and assessment tools help guide strategic natural resource planning and mitigation 

strategies for sound conservation and management of biological resources in the face of 

increasing threats from drought.
USGS Mission Area Capabilities 15

The Climate and Land Use Change Mission Area conducts research that looks at how 

changes in climate and land use influence patterns of drought and how drought impacts natural 

resources. Scientists work extensively with partners to link both short- and long-term climatedriven drought to impacts on environments. Understanding of natural and human-induced 

changes in the hydrologic cycle encompasses monitoring, analyses of instrumental records 

of precipitation, streamflow and water quality, through reconstruction of pre-instrumental 

hydrology using paleoclimate data and modeling. Scientists working on climate and land-use 

issues combine these areas of data analyses with modeling to understand the potential rates 

of hydrologic change, natural patterns of variability, and the observed impacts of hydrologic 

change on ecosystems and societies. Scientists also are working to deliver a comprehensive 

assessment of the ecological impacts of drought and to inform efforts to reduce the risks facing 

nature and people. Scientists are developing methods to understand ways in which human 

communities can adapt to the long-term effects of drought by supporting healthy ecosystems. 

Findings from the Climate and Land Use Change Mission Area are synthesized to help inform 

local communities, businesses, and conservation practitioners.

The Core Science Systems Mission Area delivers nationally focused Earth systems and 

information science that provides fundamental research and data that underpins all USGS 

research. Although not directly involved in stand-alone drought-focused research, The Core 

Science Systems Mission Area builds and provides foundational, authoritative base data that 

are used across many components of other USGS drought research, including the National 

Hydrography Dataset and the 3D Elevation Program. One of the core competencies of the Core 

Science Systems Mission Area is to build and facilitate partnership and innovation across the 

USGS—a key capability for integrating disparate research efforts. The Core Science Systems 

Mission Area facilitates multiple USGS activities in support of data integration and synthesis, 

including the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, the Community for Data 

Integration, and ScienceBase.

The Environmental Health Mission Area supports research at the interfaces between 

health and environment. Focused on environmental pathways and exposures of chemical and 

microbial contaminants to humans and other organisms, scientists have broad laboratory and 

field capabilities in the science of sources, fate and transport, exposure, toxicity, and related 

adverse health effects on biota. Working in collaboration with public health agencies and 

experts in human health, the Environmental Health Mission Area provides datasets, interpretive 

products, and expertise in environmental contaminants that add value to epidemiological, 

cohort, and other studies. Current and planned research topics related to drought science 

and management include environmental exposures to pesticides and the relation to health 

(presumed to shift in usage patterns as drought stressors on agricultural crops increase), 

contaminant exposures and relations to health due to reuse of wastewaters (presumed to 

increase with the need for novel water sources for irrigation, artificial recharge, etc.), movement 

and exposures to contaminants associated and transported by dust (presumed to increase as soil 

moisture decreases) and its relation to health. Other capabilities include detailed investigations 

of environmental contaminant exposures through tapwaters, and the relations to health if 

groundwater and surface-water quality degrade. 
16 USGS Integrated Drought Science

The Natural Hazards Mission Area works with many partners to monitor, assess, and 

conduct targeted research on a wide range of natural hazards so that policy-makers and the 

public have the understanding they need to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience. 

USGS scientists conduct research and assessments to understand hazardous processes, 

including sources and impacts, and interactions with climate change to identify and predict 

hazards. Drought-relevant expertise includes methodologies for risk assessment and translation 

of the best-available science to decision-making. Comprehensive evaluation of the vulnerability 

of critical water supplies and water-dependent infrastructure requires consideration of potential 

impacts from all hazards. The Natural Hazards Mission Area also provides capabilities to 

describe and forecast persistent and extreme-event processes that alter the physical, geochemical, and ecological condition of coastal landscapes. In addition, the Natural Hazards 

Mission Area has expertise in developing scenarios that can explore the cascading social, 

ecological, and economic consequences of environmental crises.

The Energy and Minerals Mission Area conducts research and assessments on mineral 

and energy resources, including the economic and environmental effects of resource extraction 

and use. As climate warming ensues over the coming decades, science leading to a broad 

understanding of energy and mineral resources will be paramount for decisions supporting and 

protecting the economy, natural resources, and quality of life in the United States.

Integrated Drought Science Approach

Drought Resilience and Adaptation Planning has emerged as a powerful management 

tool to help prepare for and cope with the current and projected impacts of drought on 

ecosystem dynamics and services. Developing comprehensive and effective long-term droughtresilience and risk-management strategies requires improved understanding of the processes 

leading to drought and understanding the potential impacts and associated uncertainties of 

ongoing and future drought.

USGS Drought Science provides an adaptive science framework to observe, synthesize, 

model, forecast, and deliver decision-support guidance to address current and future drought 

and stakeholder needs, while monitoring, revising, and improving technologies to advance 

drought science in a changing world. The USGS has enormous strengths and capabilities 

to address drought issues directly or indirectly at regional and national levels, providing 

tremendous capacity to begin linking key science components across Mission Areas for an 

integrated and coordinated approach to drought science. These core strengths and capabilities 

contribute to drought understanding and coordination with regard to:

• Scientific understanding of drought processes and impacts

• Drought risk planning and prediction

• Provision of decision support to address current and future stakeholder needs

• Evaluation of outcomes from drought management

Through initial understanding of common stakeholder needs nationwide, the USGS 

developed a step-wise approach to underpin the USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan (fig. 2). 

The approach will enable improved knowledge transfer and facilitate USGS response to 

specific actions identified in the Long-Term Drought Resilience Federal Action Plan, through:
Integrated Drought Science Approach 17

tac17-1137fig02

Showcase existing

assets and capabilities 

Showcase existing

assets and capabilities Increase coordination among existing assets and capabilities Increase coordination among existing assets and capabilities 

Imagine new assets

and capabilities 

Imagine new assets

and capabilities 

ASSESS existing key

data and platforms 

Surface water, ground 

water, water quality, 

water use, soil 

moisture, snowpack, 

ecology, and 

hydrogeospatial 

framework

Link spaced-based,

airborne, and 

aquatic-terrestrial data 

collection and multiscale

geospatial platforms

Apply new tools, 

technologies, and 

supporting 

infrastructure 

SYNTHESIZE datasets

and models to improve 

understanding of 

drivers, responses, 

and interactions 

Ground water and

surface water 

Ecological and 

hydrological 

Precipitation, 

snowpack, and 

vegetation 

FORECAST vulnerable

and resilient systems 

with comprehensive

understanding of 

drought processes, 

ecological responses, 

and recovery times 

DELIVER decision 

support guides to

address stakeholder 

needs 

Provide technical

assistance

Advance technologies

and tools 

Continue 

delivery of 

existing 

assets 

Deliver

enhanced 

data 

products 

Deliver

integrated

data 

products 

Deliver

predictive

models 

Deliver

integrated

models 

STRENGTHEN data

observation networks 

to broaden their spatial 

and temporal extents

Leverage existing partnerships Develop new / enhance existing internal and external partnerships Explore new partnerships

Identify current stakeholder needs Respond to current and future stakeholder needs

Figure 2. Conceptual diagram of steps needed to implement the USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan. 

• Assessing key data and platforms, 

• Strengthening observations across space and time,

• Synthesizing datasets and models,

• Forecasting vulnerable and resilient systems, and

• Delivering decision tools and services. 

The first step of the USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan approach is to ASSESS existing key data and platforms. 

Many USGS data assets already are accessible and delivered to stakeholders. These include information about surface 

water, groundwater, water quality, water use, soil moisture, snowpack, ecology, and the supporting national hydro-geospatial 

framework. Existing internal and external partnerships were identified that are important to leverage in order to continue 

delivery of these data assets and support drought information needs.

Second, there is a need to STRENGTHEN data observation networks to broaden their spatial and temporal extents

to effectively address stakeholders’ questions not only in regions experiencing drought, but also to prepare other regions of 

the United States in anticipation of similar conditions. The USGS will develop new tools and technologies to expand and 

strengthen space-based, airborne, aquatic, and terrestrial data observation networks that collect information at multiple spatial 

scales. A sophisticated data-exchange, storage, and delivery infrastructure will be important to support this envisioned 

robust network. 
18 USGS Integrated Drought Science

Next, coordination of these strengthened data observations will enable researchers to 

SYNTHESIZE datasets and models to improve understanding of drivers, responses, 

and interactions of drought in new or enhanced ways. Improved understanding of the 

relationships between key data assets, both spatial and temporal, will provide the foundation for 

improved drought forecasting. Synthesis of groundwater and surface-water data and models, 

and hydrological, elevation, geological, meteorological, and ecological data are the key data 

integration needed. This approach, complemented by the use of a consistent hydro-geospatial 

framework, will improve transfer of science and knowledge across the Nation.

Last, once key datasets and models are synthesized and understanding of interactions 

improves, new comprehensive understanding of drought processes, ecological responses, and 

recovery times can be achieved. This will improve the ability to FORECAST vulnerable 

and resilient systems. These steps in the process, to strengthen, synthesize, and forecast, 

will require increased coordination among existing assets and capabilities, but are ultimately 

essential to build and DELIVER decision-support guides to address stakeholder needs. 

The new science and tools will help Federal, State, Tribal, and local resource managers who 

are seeking to identify vulnerable and resilient systems and improve planning and mitigation 

strategies.

Near-Term Opportunities

Deliver Integrated Products about Drought

Need: Increasing pressure on the Nation’s water supply from drought is further 

complicated by the roles that more than 26 Federal agencies and many State, local entities, and 

Tribes have to collect, report, and synthesize water information. Improved access to water data 

and open exchange of water information is essential for understanding existing water resource 

issues and developing solutions for the future. As authorized in the SECURE Water Act (Public 

Law 111-11), 

“[T]he [DOI] Secretary shall conduct any appropriate activity to carry out an ongoing 

assessment of water use in hydrologic accounting units and major aquifer systems 

located in the United States, including the integration of any dataset maintained by 

any other federal or state agency into the dataset maintained by the Secretary.” 

The USGS is identified as the lead agency for the National Water Census.

To address challenges associated with delivering integrated products about drought, 

the Federal Geographic Data Committee and the Advisory Committee on Water Information 

launched the Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) in summer 2014. The OWDI integrates 

distributed water information into a connected, national water data framework by leveraging 

existing systems, infrastructure, tools, modeling, data sharing, and solution development. The 

OWDI was initiated by DOI and managed by USGS in partnership with other agencies and 

organizations. Foundational geospatial datasets from USGS provide a strong basis for this 

integration. In 2016, the OWDI completed a pilot to link water data geospatially using the 

National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) through a Network Linked Data Index (NLDI). This 

enabled scientists and water managers to quickly query and compile water information from 

dozens of water agencies within a hydrologic network. Also in 2016, the USGS developed 

the HydroLink Tool, a Web-based geographic information system (GIS) application to aid 

researchers in linking observational data to the NHD datasets. This tool supports objectives 

of the OWDI and will be an essential step to synthesize ecological and hydrological data, but 

also can support any type of georeferenced point location data that has been observed on the 

landscape and would benefit from the added-value reference to these hydrology data assets.
Near-Term Opportunities 19

Project goal and objectives: In order for scientists and water managers to use the full 

complement of drought-relevant water information, data need to be indexed to meaningful 

spatial units describing surface and groundwater hydrologic features. This can be accomplished 

by indexing Federal and other State and local water-use datasets, in cooperation with the 

Western States Water Council Water Data Exchange, to the hydrologic network using the NLDI. 

The information product could be built on the USGS National Water Census data resources 

and its Web-based services for sharing information, but targeted specifically at drought 

stakeholders. The completed pilot implementation of the NLDI mentioned above, includes 

a central Web-based catalog of stream linkages for a variety of water resources information, 

including water-quality monitoring sites, streamgages, and water-quality assessments, among 

others. The expansion of this effort would greatly benefit drought science work.

Some challenges must be overcome to achieve this goal. These include: 

1. Developing methods for aggregating and anonymizing some water data while 

maintaining the foundational data’s value to end users; 

2. Linking water-use information to relevant hydrologic networks, aquifers, and among 

other water data products, such as water quality; and 

3. Developing best practices for providing technical routines, protocols, and tools to 

identify and link water data to spatial units (such as census blocks and watersheds) for 

the water cycle using the NLDI. 

The USGS has begun work on the High Resolution NHDPlus, which builds on earlier versions 

of the NHDPlus and collaborations with the EPA to enhance the resolution of nationally 

consistent surface-water representation from 3-dimensional elevation data. 

Benefits: A common framework is essential for linking information among USGS 

programs concerning streamflow, groundwater, and water quality; climate and land use; 

ecosystems; and geospatial mapping. Expanding the catalog of data indexed to the national 

hydrologic network supports the development of consistent, accessible national models and 

their integration, important factors for increasing the value of models for decision-making. 

Develop Integrated Ecohydrological Monitoring Networks to Assess Drought Impacts 

and Improve Conservation and Management

Need: There is a growing need to develop and implement innovative strategies to 

research, monitor, and manage freshwater resources as ecological and societal demands 

escalate simultaneously with climate-driven changes in water availability. While knowledge 

of how hydrological variability affects ecological and social processes is increasingly well 

resolved in large rivers, understanding of ecosystem services in headwater streams remains 

limited. However, headwater streams represent the vast majority of the Nation’s waterways, 

and will be critical for maintenance of biodiversity, water availability, water quality, and 

ecosystem services under future drought. To help address these major data gaps, the USGS 

is uniquely positioned to develop and implement an integrated ecohydrological research and 

monitoring network that will advance understanding of drought effects and climatic resilience 

across aquatic, terrestrial, riparian, and wetland ecosystems. This integrated effort will advance 

coordinated USGS drought science and ultimately lead to development of a drought monitoring 

system and foster coordination for future response to drought issues nationwide.
20 USGS Integrated Drought Science

Data synthesis, delivery 

and distribution

Climate and Land Use Change

 Backcasting and forecasting; 

 precipitation, temperature, soil 

 moisture, snowpack, extreme hot 

 droughts, flow, hydroclimate, etc.

Water 

• Surface water: daily, monthly, 

 low summer flows, flooding,

 intermittent streams

• Groundwater

• Water quality

• Temperature

Core Science Systems

• Mapping: National Hydrography Dataset, 

 3D elevation data, soil texture and 

 depth, land use, geology, vegetation

• Data management and visualization

Ecosystems

• Aquatic species: fish, amphibians, 

 invertebrates

• Plant growth declines and mortality

• Wildlife populations and habitat changes

• Invasive species, diseases, and parasites

• Interactions with wildfire and 

 other disturbances

Ecohydrological Research and Monitoring Network

External

Shared data sources

tac17-1137_ g03

Figure 3. Ecohydrological research and monitoring network is an example integrated drought project concept.

Project goal and objectives: The overarching goal of this project is to integrate aquatic ecosystem research and 

drought monitoring throughout the entire range of aquatic environments especially where natural resource management and 

conservation is needed (fig. 3). The objectives of this study are to: 

1. Develop cost-effective, novel methods for collecting ecohydrological data (e.g., drought severity, streamflow, water 

temperature, and biological parameters) across aquatic environments; 

2. Design optimal strategies for investing in future monitoring and modeling; and 

3. Link these efforts with other biological data to understand how drought affects ecosystems. 

Benefits: This project will significantly improve understanding of ecological responses to drought and the ability of 

scientists to monitor and predict water availability at spatial scales important for aquatic species, such as invertebrates, fish, 

and amphibians; wildlife including beavers, mink, otters, wolves, and bears; and people. Moreover, remote-sensing data 

can be used to link direct effects of hydrological changes on riparian and upland vegetation and indirect effects on terrestrial 

species that use those habitats, such as beavers that play roles in storing and cooling water during periods of drought. 

Together, this coordinated and integrated project will enhance the capacity of the USGS in this interdisciplinary field while 

simultaneously benefiting natural resource decision-making, leveraging partnerships, informing policy, and addressing urgent 

stakeholder needs.
USGS Drought Online Resource and Communication 21

USGS Drought Online Resource and Communication

Providing effective communication to all stakeholders and partners has the potential to reach comparable levels of 

complexity as coordinating the science effort itself. As the first course of action, the USGS is developing a public Drought 

Website (http://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/drought) to bring together drought-related science information, products, tools, 

publications, and data for common access (fig. 4). The USGS Drought Website will present information in the areas of 

Data Collection and Integration, Modeling and Prediction, Drought Impacts, and Drought Resilience that compiles existing 

work from all USGS Mission Areas. To maintain continual access to new data, tools, and publications, the USGS will 

leverage existing systems that already are supporting USGS compliance with Federal open-data policies. A curated subset 

of publications from the USGS Publications Warehouse and released data from the USGS Science Data Catalog will be 

delivered through the USGS Drought Web page. In addition, as the USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan advances into 

implementation, status and progress also will be communicated through the USGS Drought Web page. 

Figure 4. The USGS Drought Website provides a single location to find drought-related USGS products, tools 

and publications. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/drought/science-topics
22 USGS Integrated Drought Science

Providing this common point of access for drought-related information, data, and tools 

will facilitate communication, collaboration, and coordination with stakeholders and partners at 

multiple levels of organizations. More specifically, the Website will be a resource between and 

among Federal, State, local, and Tribal stakeholders and partners while implementing actions in 

the NDRP’s Long-Term Drought Resilience Federal Action Plan.

USGS Drought Partnerships and Coordination

The USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan lays out a general strategy for integrated 

USGS approaches to drought science. The overarching goals and implementation of the plan 

cannot, however, be completely realized without effective coordination of USGS capacities 

with the Federal agencies and State, Tribal, regional, and local partners that are supporting an 

enhanced understanding of drought. 

The 2016 Presidential Memorandum: Building National Capabilities for Long-Term 

Drought Resilience (The White House, 2016) summarized the need for focused collaboration 

across all levels of government and the private sector as “critical to enable productive and 

workable solutions to build regional resilience to drought.” The need for such focus crosses 

all objectives of the USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan. The authors of this prospectus 

have noted, for example, stakeholders’ extreme need for monitoring efforts that characterize 

water supplies and support assessment of drought-risk. The in-place Federal water and 

climate data and analysis programs that help fill this information need, however, span across 

multiple agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Natural 

Resources Conservation Service, NOAA, National Weather Service, and the USGS. The need 

for coordination among these agencies, and their data programs, goes beyond ensuring data 

accessibility to include interagency awareness and coordinated design of critical hydrologic and 

ecologic monitoring networks. Similarly, many national and regional drought forecasting tools 

used by State, Tribal, regional, and local officials require input from multiple Federal agencies 

and programs. Improved coordination in the evolution of integrated decision-support tools will 

enhance the collective benefits of Federal programs to science and management partners. 

The USGS has developed strong collaborative relationships with colleague agencies 

working in support of drought science, planning, and response. The USGS plays critical roles 

in regional and national interagency drought-related programs such as DOI’s WaterSMART 

program and regional Climate Science Center partnerships, and the National Integrated 

Drought Information System. Increasing challenges associated with water management and 

drought resilience in the face of increasing water demand, however, add focus to the need to 

continue to evolve and improve coordination of Federal drought activities and communication 

with State and regional partners. To do this, the USGS will apply the same step-wise approach 

proposed for the integration of USGS drought science (fig. 2). As a first step, the USGS will 

ASSESS current coordination efforts, mechanisms, and practices in ongoing drought programs. 
A New Path Forward 23

Defining who USGS works with and the effectiveness of those interactions will help to identify 

best practices and existing deficiencies. The Action Plan of the NDRP is useful for improving 

coordination among drought activities of Federal agencies. It also provides a context for 

guiding and coordinating Federal activities, including those of the USGS, with attention to local 

and regional priorities and needs. The USGS will use and extend the NDRP Federal Action 

Plan coordination framework to all drought activities, STRENGTHEN current coordination 

efforts, and establish new lines of communication and working relationships with 

engaged partners. 

The goal of improving coordination of USGS drought science activities with other 

Federal agencies and State and local partners is a two-way proposition to deliver coordinated 

and integrated government drought science. The USGS will embrace and forward an “all 

in” philosophy for information sharing and will work toward strategic coordination and 

SYNTHESIS of Federal drought science activities. Delivered science will include model-based 

FORECASTING and mitigation tools for vulnerable and resilient systems. Products will be 

DELIVERED to all stakeholders who need them for decision support and to address general 

information needs of those present and active within affected landscapes. This coordination and 

communication focus will help minimize duplication of effort in Federal drought programs—

instead allowing the USGS to build onto and integrate with long-standing and emerging 

drought initiatives led at Federal, State, Tribal, regional, and local levels. 

A New Path Forward

Recognizing the critical importance of managing risk and improving resilience of our 

Nation’s communities and ecosystems in the face of climate-induced drought, the USGS 

Integrated Drought Science Plan calls for coordinated and integrated USGS approaches to 

drought science. This new vision represents a new path towards understanding drought impacts 

on people and ecosystems and advancing critical information necessary for decision-makers to 

take action in the coming decades. The next step is to develop a future implementation strategy 

that identifies specific measures to implement this long-term vision across the United States. 

Ultimately, this coordinated and integrated approach will help our Nation prepare for and cope 

with drought to protect human health and safety, natural ecosystems, national security, our 

economy, and our quality of life in changing world.
24 USGS Integrated Drought Science

References Cited

Choat, B., Jansen, S., Brodribb, T.J., and others, 2012, Global convergence in the vulnerability 

of forests to drought: Nature, v. 491, p. 752–755, doi:10.1038/nature11688.

Easterling, D.R., Meehl, G.A., Parmesan, C., Changnon, S.A., Karl, T.R., and Mearns, L.O., 

2000, Climate extremes—Observations, modeling, and impacts: Science, v. 289, p. 2,068–

2,074.

Ledger, M.E., Brown, L.E., Edwards, F.K., Milner, A.M., and Woodward, G., 2013, Drought 

alters the structure and functioning of complex food webs: Nature Climate Change, v. 3, 

p. 223–227.

Milly, P.C.D., Dunne, K.A., and Vecchia, A.V., 2005, Global pattern of trends in streamflow 

and water availability in a changing climate: Nature, v. 438, p. 347–350, doi:10.1038/

nature04312.

Parry M.L., Canziani, O.F., Palutikof, J.P., van der Linden, P.J., and Hanson, C.E., eds., 2007, 

Climate Change 2007—Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: Contribution of Working 

Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 

Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 982 p. 

The White House, 2016, Presidential Memorandum: Building national capabilities for longterm drought resilience: Web page, The White House, Office of Press Secretary, accessed 

March 26, 2017, at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/21/

presidential-memorandum-building-national-capabilities-long-term-drought.

Vörösmarty, C.J., McIntyre, P.B., Gessner, M.O., and others, 2010, Global threats to human 

water security and river biodiversity: Nature, v. 467, p. 555–561, doi:10.1038/nature09440.

Wilhite, D.A., ed., 2005, Drought and water crises—Science, technology, and management 

issues: Boca Raton, Florida, CRC Press, 432 p.
Publishing support provided by the U.S. Geological Survey

Science Publishing Network, Tacoma Publishing Service Center

For more information concerning the research in this report, contact the

USGS Drought Coordinator

National Center, MS 301

12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., MS 300

Reston, VA 20192

 https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/drought
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