Advances in Geosciences www.adv-geosci.net 1680-7340 1680-7359 17 9th EGU Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms (2007) 2009 10.5194/adgeo-17-105-2009 http://www.adv-geosci.net/17/105/2009/ http://www.adv-geosci.net/17/105/2009/adgeo-17-105-2009.html http://www.adv-geosci.net/17/105/2009/adgeo-17-105-2009.pdf 105 110 2009-03-16 Hydrometeorological and vegetation indices for the drought monitoring system in Tuscany Region, Italy F. Caparrini f.caparrini@eumechanos.it F. Manzella Centro Funzionale Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy Eumechanos, Firenze, Italy We present here the first experiments for an integrated system that is under development for drought monitoring and water resources assessment in Tuscany Region in central Italy. The system is based on the cross-evaluation of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Vegetation Indices from remote sensing (from MODIS and SEVIRI-MSG), and outputs from the distributed hydrological model MOBIDIC, that is used in real-time for water balance evaluation and hydrological forecast in the major basins of Tuscany. <br><br> Furthermore, a telemetric network of aquifer levels is near completion in the region, and data from nearly 50 stations are already available in real-time. <br><br> Preliminary estimates of drought indices over Tuscany in the first eight months of 2007 are shown, and pathway for further studies on the correlation between patterns of crop water stress, precipitation deficit and groundwater conditions is discussed. Bordi, I., Frigio, S., Parenti, P., Speranza, A., and Sutera, A.: The analysis of the Standardized Precipitation Index in the Mediterranean areas: regional patterns, Ann. Geofis., 44(5–6), 979–994, 2001. Campo, L., Caparrini, F., and Castelli F.: Use of Multi-Platform, Multi-Temporal, Remote Sensing Data for Calibration of a Distributed Hydrological Model: An Application in the Arno Basin, Italy, Hydrol. Process., 20, 2693–2712, 2006. Kogan, F. N.: Remote sensing of weather impacts on vegetation in non-homogeneous areas, Int. J. Remote Sens., 11, 1405–1420, 1990. Kogan, F. N.: Droughts of the late 1980s in the United States as derive from NOAA polar-orbiting satellite data, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 76, 655–668, 1995. Liu, W. and Kogan, F. N.: Monitoring regional drought using the vegetation condition index, Int. J. Remote Sens., 17, 2761–2782, 1996. McKee, T. B., Doeksten, N. J., and Kleist, J.: Drought monitoring with different time scales, Proc. 9th Conference on Applied Climatology, Dallas TX, 233–236, 1995. McVicar, T. R., and Jupp, D. L. B.: The current and potential operational use of remote sensing to aid decisions on drought exceptional circumstances in Australia: a review, Agr. Syst., 57(3), 399–468, 1998. Tannehill, I. R.: Drought and Its Causes and Effects, Princeton University Press, 597 pp., 1947. Wilhite, D. A.: Drought assesment, management and planning: theory and case studies, Kluwer Academic Boston, 293 pp., 1993. Wilhite, D. A. and Glantz, M. H.: Understanding the drought phenomenon: the role of definitions, Water Int., 10, 111–120, 1985.