>> Rebecca Girma: Ethiopia is located in the
horn of Africa and boasts some of the most
unique geology in Sub-Saharan Africa.
A central highland of rugged mountains and
plateaus is divided by the great rift valley.
This unique geology has created diverse climates
and distinct ecological zones across the country,
from densely biodiverse tropical forests in
the southwest, to hot, dry deserts in the
east.
>> Rebecca Girma: Ethiopia is home to over
100 million people, nearly 80 percent of which
are engaged in smallholder agriculture.
They mainly pursue rainfed subsistence farming,
which comprises nearly half of the country's
Gross Domestic Product.
Staple crops include cereal grains such as
barley, wheat, and teff, as well as lentils
and beans.
Because crops are largely dependent on the
seasonal rains, drought conditions can have
severe effects on food security for both human
and animal communities.
>> Sarah Carroll: In 2015, extreme El Niño
weather patterns created the worst drought
in Ethiopia in over half a century.
This drought is still ongoing, and currently
over 10 million people are in need of emergency
food assistance due to widespread crop failures
that occurred primarily throughout the central
and northern parts of the country.
>> Dr. Gabriel Senay: A lack of rain means,
almost for sure, lack of food at the end of
season.
So that's why it's very important that
we monitor drought, especially in these vulnerable
populations that rely on subsistence agriculture.
>> Bethlehem Astella: To assist in directing
response efforts and humanitarian aid, the
Ethiopia Disasters team partnered with the
Humanitarian Information Unit of the US State
Department, the USGS North Central Climate
Science Center, and the Institute of Geo-information
and Earth Observation Sciences at Mekelle
university in Ethiopia.
To increase information on duration, location,
and severity of drought, we created a drought
condition index that characterizes drought
severity over the last ten years.
>> Dr. Melinda Laituri: Being able to utilize
remotely sensed data for this kind of analysis,
it provides us critical insights into how
we can begin to better manage food security
for the future.
>> Sarah Carroll: We focused our drought analyses
on the Amhara and Oromia regions in North
Central Ethiopia, where the landscape is dominated
by rainfed agriculture.
To characterize recent drought conditions,
we utilized rainfall, temperature, and vegetation
condition data derived from NASA's Aqua
and Terra MODIS, and Tropical Rainfall Measuring
Mission satellites.
Satellite imagery was restricted to the study
area and downloaded from Google Earth Engine
for each month from 2006 to 2016.
>> Amandeep Vashisht: Monthly land surface
temperature, rainfall, and vegetative index
values were scaled from 0 to 1, with zero
representing the driest, and 1 representing
the wettest conditions.
The seasonal drought index, of the last 10
years, was then calculated to capture spatio-temporal
variability of drought.
Tutorials were also created to enhance technical
capacity to monitor drought and train students
at our partner organization at Mekelle University.
>> Dr. Gabriel Senay: This tool will be, you
know, easily used and adopted by decision
makers because it is a simplified approach,
it makes easier for people to interpret and
put in to practice.
