Page 142 - GIS for Science, Volume 3 Preview

NASA’s Land Data Assimilation System
NASA’s work to identify devastating food shortages has led to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS). This network provides early warning and analysis to identify famine and monitor acute food insecurity globally (McNally et al. 2017). FLDAS, which includes a crop water balance model, is a custom instance of NASA’s Land Information System (LIS), a software framework for high performance terrestrial hydrology modeling.
FLDAS has been applied to study hydrometeorological conditions such as drought and their impact on agriculture and food security. FLDAS output variables, such as soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and groundwater, are used to study water availability in data-sparse regions of the world. Similarly, FLDAS helps to study runoff and rainfall flux anomalies during and after major rainfall events. For example, map A shows the monthly anomaly of rainfall flux from October 2019 to June 2020 obtained from FLDAS for Lake Victoria in East Africa. Map B shows the same data globally.
NASA’s earth observations are critical in understanding extreme events and the effects of climate change. One key variable often associated with this science is atmospheric temperature. However, the impact of global warming is far greater than just increasing temperatures. Warming modifies rainfall patterns, amplifies coastal erosion, lengthens the growing season in some regions, melts ice caps and glaciers, and alters the ranges of some species and infectious diseases. Most of these changes are already distinctly observable in data-variable trends.
B
Global monthly anomaly of rainfall flux obtained from FLDAS Noah Land Surface Model from October 2019 to June 2020, during which water levels in Lake Victoria, the largest lake in East Africa, rose above historic water records.
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