Development of an operational, multisectoral global drought hazard forecasting system - project OUTLAST funded by BMBF

01 September 2022: The Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the development of the first operational, multisectoral, global drought hazard forecasting system by the collaborative research project OUTLAST. The forecasting system will cover the sectors 1) water supply, 2) riverine ecosystems, 3) non-agricultural land ecosystems, 4) rainfed agriculture, and 5) irrigated agriculture. It will be implemented as a component of the Global Hydrological Status and Outlook System (HydroSOS) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and will provide, with monthly updates, spatial indicators of drought hazard for a six month forecasting period.

OUTLAST will be coordinated by the Division Agronomy with partners at the Institute of Physical Geography (IPG) of the University of Frankfurt am Main, at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and at the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC) at the German Federal Institute of Hydrology Koblenz. In addition, the Division Agronomy will develop operational seasonal drought forecasts for irrigated and rainfed agriculture, integrate the forecasting system into the overall multi-sectoral forecasting system, and systematically evaluate the multi-sectoral forecasting system at a global scale as well as at a regional scale in cooperation with the regional pilot users.

Contact persons at the Division Agronomy: