[1] Texas experienced the most extreme one-year drought on record in 2011 with precipitation at 40% of long-term mean and agricultural losses of ~$7.6 billion. We assess the value of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite-derived total water storage (TWS) change as an alternative remote sensing-based drought indicator, independent of traditional drought indicators based on in...

Groundwater drought is a natural hazard that develops when groundwater systems are affected by climatical drought, when climatical drought occures, first groundwater recharge, later groundwater levels and groundwater discharge decrease. The origin of drought is a deficit in precipitation and that takes place in all the elements that comprise the hydrological cycle (flow in the rivers, soil mois...

Agriculture on the American Great Plains has been constrained by historical water scarcity. After World War II, technological improvements made groundwater from the Ogallala aquifer available for irrigation. Comparing counties over the Ogallala with nearby similar counties, groundwater access increased irrigation intensity and initially reduced the impact of droughts. Over time, land-use adjust...

Drought indicators based on model-assimilated Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) terrestrial water storage observations" (2012). NASA Publications. [1] The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin satellites observe time variations in Earth's gravity field which yield valuable information about changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS). GRACE is characterized by low sp...

Streamflow of the Colorado River Basin is the most overallocated in the world. Recent assessment indicates that demand for this renewable resource will soon outstrip supply, suggesting that limited groundwater reserves will play an increasingly important role in meeting future water needs. Here we analyze 9 years (December 2004 to November 2013) of observations from the NASA Gravity Recovery an...

The Central Valley of California is one of the most productive agricultural locations in the world, which is made possible by a complex and vast irrigation system. Beginning in 2012, California endured one of the worst droughts in its history. Local impacts of the drought have been evaluated, but it is not yet well understood how the drought reverberated through the global food system. Here we ...

In the past decade, extreme and exceptional droughts have significantly impacted many economic sectors in the US, especially in California, Oklahoma, and Texas. The record drought of 2011–2014 affected almost 90% of Texas areas and 95% of Oklahoma state areas. In 2011 alone, around $1.6 billion in agricultural production were lost as a result of drought in Oklahoma, and $7.6 billion in Texas. T...