Background Drought is an anomaly within the atmospheric, surface and sub-surface cycling of water and energy, usually initiated through large to regional scale atmospheric processes, and enhanced and maintained through regional to local atmospheric, surface hydrology, land surface and groundwater feedbacks that operate throughout the annual cycle. Droughts are a distinctive feature of the Canadian Prairies where the large scale atmospheric circulations are influenced by blocking from intense orography to the west and long distances from all warm ocean-derived atmospheric water sources. DRI addresses a multi-year drought that began in 1999 with cessation of its atmospheric component in 2004/2005 and many of its hydrological components in 2005. It was the worst drought for at least a hundred years in parts of the Canadian Prairies. According to Phillips (2002),Phillips, D.W., 2002: The top ten Canadian weather stories for 2001. CMOS Bulletin, 30, 19-23. for the western and central Canadian Prairies during 2001 and 2002, “ … it was the worst of times. Even in the dust bowl of the 1930s, no single year between Medicine Hat, Kindersley and Saskatoon was drier than in 2001”. The drought affected agriculture, recreation, tourism, health, hydro-electricity, and forestry in the Prairies. Gross Domestic Product fell some $5.8 billion and employment losses exceeded 41,000 jobs for 2001 and 2002. This drought also contributed to a negative or zero net farm income for several provinces for the first time in 25 years (Statistics Canada, 2003Statistics Canada, 2003: Net Farm Income. Catalogue No. 21-010-XIE, Volume 2. Ottawa, Ontario.) with agricultural production over Canada dropping an estimated $3.6 billion in 2001/2002. Previously reliable water supplies such as streams, wetlands, dugouts, reservoirs, and groundwater were placed under stress and often failed. More details are available in Wheaton (2005).Wheaton, E, Wittrock V, Kulshreshtha S, Koshida G, Grant C, Chipanshi A, Bonsal BR (2005) Lessons learned from the drought years of 2001 and 2002: synthesis report. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatchewan Research Council Publ No. 11602–46E03, Saskatoon Despite the enormous economic, environmental, and societal impacts of droughts, DRI is undertaking the first integrated drought research program of its kind in Canada with the hope being that the occurrence and nature of drought can be better anticipated on short and long term scales. From a longer-term perspective, this 5-year Network represents an essential step in better predicting droughts over Canada, their detailed structure and their impacts with increasing confidence and better assessing whether there will be a ‘drying of the continental interior’ in the future Research Themes DRI is achieving its objective by focusing on five complementary research themes, including quantification, understanding, and better prediction of a particular drought with funding primarily from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) . Comparisons with other droughts, and implications for society have been funded with additional direct and in-kind support coming from Environment Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) , Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, Saskatchewan Research Council, Manitoba Water Stewardship and Manitoba Hydro. 1: Characterizing Drought To characterize the drought of 1999-2005 DRI has been quantifying its atmospheric, hydrologic, and land-surface physical features at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. This analysis will be realized by addressing three focused questions: What variables are required to quantify the characteristics of this recent drought? What data sources and model outputs are available for quantification of these parameters? How do we characterize and “close the budgets ” of water and energy over the Prairies ? 5: Drought Impacts Theme 5 applies our progress in drought characterization and prediction to critical issues of importance to society during times of drought. These efforts are linked to the following questions: What organizations are affected by drought? What exactly is the nature of their impact and how can this be alleviated? Given the progress being made by the Network, how can it address drought impacts on affected organizations? In order to advance this theme, DRI has carried out an extensive consultative process with the users; has launched a set of simulation exercises to test how users may adapt new DRI products to make better decisions through an exercise known as DEWS (Drought Early Warning System test), and formed a Partners Advisory Committee composed of experts from user agencies and groups to give advice on their needs for DRI research and information. More details are available in Lawford et al. (2008).Lawford, R., H. Hill, E. Wheaton, I. Hanuta, A. Warkentin, B. Girling and R. Stewart, 2008: A review of some requirements for drought information on the Canadian Prairies. CMOS Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 3, 97-102. Program Structure and Linkages DRI is led by two Principal Investigators, Drs. Ronald Stewart and John Pomeroy. A Board of Directors , chaired by Jim Bruce oversees the program strategy and a Science Committee takes the day-to-day decisions about the implementation of the project. In addition, the operational details are implemented by a Secretariat consisting of a Network Manager, a Financial Manager and two Data Managers. A Partners Advisory Committee, chaired by Harvey Hill, also meets and reports on the user needs to the Board of Directors . The program have also established strong linkages and collaborations with research initiatives and departments and on provincial, federal and international levels. The detailed program structure and linkages can be found in Stewart et al., (2008). The DRI Legacy DRI has brought together an unprecedented amount of information on Canadian drought. On its web site, one can find many links to various datasets that describe elements of drought in the atmosphere, at the surface or below the surface. Compiling a Prairie-wide database of provincial groundwater and water levels is part of this effort. The data are being brought together in an integrated information system. Synthesis articles, special issue of Atmosphere-Ocean and a public information document about the 1999-2005 drought are in preparation. In addition, new techniques of archiving and making available datasets are being explored as one other legacy of DRI. Undoubtedly, the greatest legacy of DRI will be the young people who have been trained at the PhD, Masters and early scientist level who carried out much of this research and are now pursuing lifetime careers in disciplines related to DRI. External links The Drought Research Initiative Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS)
Background Drought is an anomaly within the atmospheric, surface and sub-surface cycling of water and energy, usually initiated through large to regional scale atmospheric processes, and enhanced and maintained through regional to local atmospheric, surface hydrology, land surface and groundwater feedbacks that operate throughout the annual cycle. Droughts are a distinctive feature of the Canadian Prairies where the large scale atmospheric circulations are influenced by blocking from intense orography to the west and long distances from all warm ocean-derived atmospheric water sources. DRI addresses a multi-year drought that began in 1999 with cessation of its atmospheric component in 2004/2005 and many of its hydrological components in 2005. It was the worst drought for at least a hundred years in parts of the Canadian Prairies. According to Phillips (2002),Phillips, D.W., 2002: The top ten Canadian weather stories for 2001. CMOS Bulletin, 30, 19-23. for the western and central Canadian Prairies during 2001 and 2002, “ ... it was the worst of times. Even in the dust bowl of the 1930s, no single year between Medicine Hat, Kindersley and Saskatoon was drier than in 2001”. The drought affected agriculture, recreation, tourism, health, hydro-electricity, and forestry in the Prairies. Gross domestic product fell some $5.8 billion and employment losses exceeded 41,000 jobs for 2001 and 2002. This drought also contributed to a negative or zero net farm income for several provinces for the first time in 25 years (Statistics Canada, 2003Statistics Canada, 2003: Net Farm Income. Catalogue No. 21-010-XIE, Volume 2. Ottawa, Ontario.) with agricultural production over Canada dropping an estimated $3.6 billion in 2001/2002. Previously reliable water supplies such as streams, wetlands, dugouts, reservoirs, and groundwater were placed under stress and often failed. More details are available in Wheaton (2005).Wheaton, E, Wittrock V, Kulshreshtha S, Koshida G, Grant C, Chipanshi A, Bonsal BR (2005) Lessons learned from the drought years of 2001 and 2002: synthesis report. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatchewan Research Council Publ No. 11602–46E03, Saskatoon Despite the enormous economic, environmental, and societal impacts of droughts, DRI is undertaking the first integrated drought research program of its kind in Canada with the hope being that the occurrence and nature of drought can be better anticipated on short and long term scales. From a longer-term perspective, this 5-year Network represents an essential step in better predicting droughts over Canada, their detailed structure and their impacts with increasing confidence and better assessing whether there will be a ‘drying of the continental interior’ in the future Research themes DRI is achieving its objective by focusing on five complementary research themes, including quantification, understanding, and better prediction of a particular drought with funding primarily from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences . Comparisons with other droughts, and implications for society have been funded with additional direct and in-kind support coming from Environment Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration , Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, Saskatchewan Research Council, Manitoba Water Stewardship and Manitoba Hydro. 1: Characterizing Drought To characterize the drought of 1999-2005 DRI has been quantifying its atmospheric, hydrologic, and land-surface physical features at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. This analysis will be realized by addressing three focused questions: What variables are required to quantify the characteristics of this recent drought? What data sources and model outputs are available for quantification of these parameters? How are budgets if water and energy characterized and “closed" over the prairies ? 5: Drought Impacts Theme 5 applies progress in drought characterization and prediction to critical issues of importance to society during times of drought. These efforts are linked to the following questions: What organizations are affected by drought? What exactly is the nature of their impact and how can this be alleviated? Given the progress being made by the Network, how can it address drought impacts on affected organizations? In order to advance this theme, DRI has carried out an extensive consultative process with the users; has launched a set of simulation exercises to test how users may adapt new DRI products to make better decisions through an exercise known as DEWS (Drought Early Warning System test), and formed a Partners Advisory Committee composed of experts from user agencies and groups to give advice on their needs for DRI research and information. More details are available in Lawford et al. (2008).Lawford, R., H. Hill, E. Wheaton, I. Hanuta, A. Warkentin, B. Girling and R. Stewart, 2008: A review of some requirements for drought information on the Canadian Prairies. CMOS Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 3, 97-102. Program structure and linkages DRI is led by two Principal Investigators, Drs. Ronald Stewart and John Pomeroy. A board of directors , chaired by Jim Bruce oversees the program strategy and a Science Committee takes the day-to-day decisions about the implementation of the project. In addition, the operational details are implemented by a Secretariat consisting of a Network Manager, a Financial Manager and two Data Managers. A Partners Advisory Committee, chaired by Harvey Hill, also meets and reports on the user needs to the board of directors . The program have also established strong linkages and collaborations with research initiatives and departments and on provincial, federal and international levels. The detailed program structure and linkages can be found in Stewart et al., (2008). Legacy DRI has brought together an unprecedented amount of information on Canadian drought. On its web site, one can find many links to various datasets that describe elements of drought in the atmosphere, at the surface or below the surface. Compiling a Prairie-wide database of provincial groundwater and water levels is part of this effort. The data are being brought together in an integrated information system. Synthesis articles, special issue of Atmosphere-Ocean and a public information document about the 1999-2005 drought are in preparation. In addition, new techniques of archiving and making available datasets are being explored as one other legacy of DRI. Undoubtedly, the greatest legacy of DRI will be the young people who have been trained at the PhD, Masters and early scientist level who carried out much of this research and are now pursuing lifetime careers in disciplines related to DRI. External links The Drought Research Initiative Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences 
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Domestic Product
domestic product
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Themes
themes
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(CFCAS)
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(PFRA)
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do we characterize and “close the budgets ” of
are budgets if
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over the Prairies
characterized and “closed" over the prairies
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our
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Structure and Linkages
structure and linkages
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Board of Directors
board of directors
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Board of Directors
board of directors
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The DRI
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(CFCAS)