-

-
|
- The
Topic:
- Drought
|
- Easier - A drought
is a long period of very dry weather. It is a long
time with little or no rain.
-
- Harder - A
drought, pronounced drowt, is a period of
abnormally dry weather when the average rainfall
for a region drops far below the normal amount for
a long time. Higher than normal temperatures
usually occur during drought periods. The severity
of the drought depends upon the degree of moisture
deficiency, the duration and the size of the
affected area.
-
- Drought impacts can be economic, social, and
environmental. Lack of rain and increased
temperatures cause stress on both rural
agricultural and urban metropolitan areas. Unusual
periods of rain-free weeks can spread panic and
shrivel crops. Wells, lakes, and streams begin to
dry up. People are directed to stop washing cars,
cease watering lawns, and employ other water saving
measures. Plants and farm crops eventually wither
and then die. Animals suffer and may even die
because of extreme drought. Forest and grass fires
occur more frequently and can spread quickly if
dry, arid conditions continue. Absence of moisture
and plant life reduction can lead to increased wind
erosion. More weeks and months without sufficient
rainfall coupled with wind and sunshine can begin
to turn a forest into desert.
-
- Drought
from Discovery Communications Inc.
- http://www.discovery.com/news/features/drought/drought.html
- This site covers some of the U.S.'s historic
dry spells and helps you discover nature's most
patient killer. See photos and a video clip
too.
- Related Website:
- 2) U.S. Drought Continues from Riverdeep
Interactive Learning Limited http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2000/05/front.170500.drought.jhtml
- 3) North American Drought: A Paleo Perspective
from NOAA Paleoclimatology Program http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/drght_home.html
-
- Drought
Information for Kids
- http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/drought/kids_droughtinfo.htm
- Learn all about droughts here.
- Related Websites:
- 2) All About Droughts from National Weather
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/drought.htm
- 3) Drought and Climate Change from National
Drought Mitigation Center http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/enigma/cchange.htm
- 4) Drought Definitions from Drought
Information Center of Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/subject/hotopics/drought/drtterm.htm
- 5) Drought FAQ and Suggested Web Sites
http://www.ucar.edu/news/032202.html
- 6) Drought Guide from Stormfax http://www.stormfax.com/drought.htm
- 7) Drought Impacts from Ctr. for Earth and
Environmental Studies, Texas A&M
International University http://www.tamiu.edu/cost/drought/impacts/index.htm
- 8) Drought Indices by M.J. Hayes, National
Drought Mitigation Center
- http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/enigma/indices.htm
- 9) Impacts of Droughts from National Drought
Mitigation Center http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/impacts/impacts.htm
- 10)Understanding and Defining Drought from
National Drought Mitigation Center
- http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/enigma/def2.htm
-
- Drought
Information Center from National Oceanic
& Atmospheric Administration
- http://www.drought.noaa.gov/
- This comprehensive site connects to the various
NOAA Web sites and information on drought and
climate conditions. Some external links are
included.
- Other Comprehensive Websites:
- 2) Drought Outlook http://droughtoutlook.com/
- 3) Resources: Floods and Droughts from USA
Today http://www.usatoday.com/weather/whydro00.htm
-
- Drought
Monitor
- http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/index.html
- Tracking drought blends science and art. No
single definition of drought works for all
circumstances, so people rely on drought indices to
detect and measure droughts. But no single index
works under all circumstances, either. That's why
we need the Drought Monitor.
- Related Websites from National Climatic Data
Center:
- 2) Animated Indicator Maps for Drought Monitor
from National Climatic Data Center
- http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/dm/weekly-DM-animations.html
- 3) Drought Termination and Amelioration
- http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/drought/drought.html
- Other Related Sites:
- 4) Current and Anticipated Precipitation
Anomalies over the U.S. http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/Drought/
- 5) Palmer Drought Severity Index
- http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/regional_monitoring/palmer.gif
- 6) United States Seasonal Drought Outlook
- http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html
-

- After visiting several of the websites
for drought, complete one or more of these
related activities.
-
- Complete A Drought WebQuest.
Follow or adapt the procedures found at
this webQuest site:
- Drought: How Dry I Am! (Grade 5) by
D. Landers-Cauley, E. Mantenfel, &
E. Berry
- http://www.sandwich.k12.ma.us/webquest/drought/index.htm
-
- Investigate Two Separate
Droughts. Use the websites to research
two different droughts in separate
locations. Compare and contrast the
droughts. How were they alike and how were
they different.
-
- Collect Oral Histories on
Droughts. Interview adults about any
long-dry spells they remember during their
earlier lives. Did they grow up in the
Great Plains region during the 'Dust Bowl'
years or did they experience drought
during the Fifties? What were the driest
years that they remember? What changes did
drought make in their lives? How long and
how severe was the drought? Before you
conduct your interviews, you may want to
visit Oral
History, another eduScapes
42eXplore project.
-
- Research the Drought History of
Where You Live. Use the websites to
learn the history of droughts in the
region where you live.
-
- What Should Be Done In Early
Drought Stages? If you are in a region
beginning to experience drought, what
measures should be taken? Put together
lists of recommendations for local
government, for your family, for a work
location. Make the choices and then put
together a case to convince others.
-
- Create A Drought Awareness
Poster. Decide what the most important
issues or factors are that the public
needs to have brought to their attention
or reinforced. Then create an eye-catching
poster display that effectively conveys
your message.
|
- Websites By Kids For Kids
- Drought
from Natural Disasters (1997 ThinkQuest
Internet Challenge)
- http://library.thinkquest.org/10136/drought/droutq.htm
- Learn about what causes drought, where they
occur, some specifics about major droughts, and
much more.
- Similar Projects:
- 2) Drought from Natural Disasters:
Destructive Forces of Nature (1998
ThinkQuest
- Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/16132/html/drought.html
- 3) What's A Drought? from Forces of
Nature (2000 ThinkQuest Internet
Challenge -
- Silver Award) http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/droughts/whatsadrought.shtml
-
- Droughts
(Grade 7) from Germantown Elementary
School
- http://www.germantown.k12.il.us/html/droughts1.html
- This webpage is part of a larger Website on
natural disasters and provides basic information
about droughts.
-
- Historical Droughts
- Droughts
Played Major Role In Jamestown, 'Lost Colony'
Tragedies from College of William and
Mary
- http://www.wm.edu/wmnews/042398/drought.html
- Tree-ring evidence suggests worst droughts in
800 years led to settlements' decline.
- Related Websites:
- 2) Climatology: Lessons from the Past and the
Reality of Global Warming from PBS's Scientific
American Frontiers http://www.pbs.org/saf/1203/features/climatology.htm
- 3) Epic 16th Century Drought Could Revisit
North America by S. Kriner from Disaster
- Relief http://www.disasterrelief.org/Disasters/000210megadrought/
- 4) Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts at
Drought: A Paleo Perspective
- http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/drght_james.html
- 5) Roanoke Island from Watershed Radio
http://www.watershedradio.org/may2001/050301roano.htm
- 6) Trees Reveal Early Colonists Arrived During
Worst Drought in 800 Years from (Chesapeake) Bay
Journal http://www.bayjournal.com/current/trees.htm
-
- Paleoclimate
Drought Resources from NOAA
Paleoclimatology Program, National
Geophysical Data Center
- http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought.html
- Because instrumented records are limited to
primarily the past 100-150 years, paleoclimate
records are crucial to gaining a long-term
perspective on drought variability, particularly
when it comes to multi-decadal droughts that have
occurred prior to the instrumented records.
-
- Surviving
the Dust Bowl from PBS's The American
Experience
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/index.html
- Here you can get background information about
the drought during the Great Depression.
- Related Webpages:
- 2) Drought and Erosion from New Deal Network
http://newdeal.feri.org/library/7_31_4r.htm
- 3) "Even the Grasshoppers were Starving" During
the 1934 Drought by W.P. Reeve from Utah History
To Go http://www.utahhistorytogo.org/drought.html
- 4) History of the Dustbowl http://www.ultranet.com/~gregjonz/dust/dustbowl.html
- 5) Impacts & Mitigation of Drought in the
Dust Bowl Years from National Drought Mitigation
Center http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/impacts/dustbowl/1930s1.htm
-
- Tree
Ring Records Link Historic Epidemics to Drought in
Mexico . . . from University of
Arkansas
- http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news/2002/FEB02/Stahle02.html
- Tree ring reconstruction of rainfall dating
back to the 1500s may provide insight into some of
the epidemics that decimated the native population
of Mexico shortly after the arrival of
Europeans.
- Related Website:
- 2) Drought Reigns in N.M. History by J. Fleck,
Albuquerque Journal http://www.abqjournal.com/2000/1mill5-27.htm
-
- Social
Strife May Have Exiled Ancient Indians by
G. Johnson
- http://www.santafe.edu/~johnson/articles.anasazi.html
- Until very recently, the most perplexing
mystery of Southwestern archeology -- what caused
the collapse of the ancient empire of the Anasazi
-- seemed all but solved.
- Related Website:
- 2) Collapse - Chaco Canyon from
Annenberg/CPB http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/chacocanyon.html
- 3) Mystery of the Anasazi from USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/science/archaeology/anasazi102900.htm
- 4) Paleoenvironmental Change http://www.cpluhna.nau.edu/People/paleoenvironmental_change.htm
-
- US
Drought History
- http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climvis/usdroughthistory.html
- Using this online ClIMVIS database that
incorporates the Palmer Drought Severity
Index and more, you can plot the drought
history of any state in the U.S. for any time since
1895.
-
- Why
Droughts Plague Texas from Texas Water
Resources Institute
- http://twri.tamu.edu/twripubs/WtrResrc/v22n2/index.html
- This website explains why dry spells have
always been part of Texas and will likely
continue.
- Related Website:
- 2) Drought of the 1950s http://twri.tamu.edu/twripubs/WtrResrc/v22n2/text-3.html
- 3) Going to Dust: The Midwestern Drought of
1996 http://www.time.com/time/special/drought/
-
- More Websites on Drought
- Dealing
with Drought from International Water
Management Institute
- http://www.cgiar.org/iwmi/home/drought.htm
- When water becomes scarce, farmers have two
options: find new sources of irrigation water or
find ways of minimizing irrigation demand.
-
- Desertification,
Drought and Their Consequences by A.P.
Koohafkan from Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
- http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/sustdev/EPdirect/EPan0005.htm
- This article provides a brief analysis and
provides links to climate maps and articles
primarily on drought and agriculture.
-
- Drought:
Fact Sheet on Water Conservation from
American Red Cross
- http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/keepsafe/drought.html
- Here are tips for conserving water for
environmental reasons, as well as when drought
conditions threaten.
- Related Website:
- 2) Drought Information and Water Saving Tips
from The Franklin Institute
- http://sln.fi.edu/weather/drought.html
-
- Drought
Information Center of Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection
- http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/subject/hotopics/drought/default.htm
- This comprehensive information site centers on
the drought in Pennsylvania and includes reports,
maps, factsheets, tips for conserving water, and
much more.
- Other State Centers:
- 2) Colorado Drought Monitoring http://www.dola.state.co.us/oem/PublicInformation/Drought/drought.htm
- 3) Drought in Georgia http://interests.caes.uga.edu/drought/
- 4) Drought Information (Texas)
- http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PLANTanswers/drought/drought.html
- 5) Florida Drought Watch http://www.dca.state.fl.us/bpr/EMTOOLS/florida_drought_center.htm
- 6) Montana Drought Monitoring http://nris.state.mt.us/Drought/
- 7) New Jersey Drought Information http://www.njdrought.org/
- 8) Oklahoma Drought Information Page http://www.state.ok.us/~governor/drought.htm
- 9) South Carolina Drought Information Center
http://water.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sco/drought.html
- 10)State of Connecticut Drought Response
http://www.drought.state.ct.us/
- 11)Texas Drought http://agnews.tamu.edu/drought/
- 12)Wyoming Drought Monitor http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/wrds/wsc/dtf/drought.html
-
- Drought
Disasters from United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF)
- http://www.unicef.org/drought/
- This website provides information on drought
striken areas around the globe.
- Related Websites:
- 2) Development: Drought Spreads through Poorest
Nations by G. Capdevila from IPS-Inter Press
Service http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/aug00/17_53_028.html
- 3) Drought Monitoring Centre for the Greater
Horn of Africa (GHA)
- http://lion.meteo.go.ke/dmc/
- 4) Drought Situation in Pakistan http://www.drought.sdnpk.org/
- 5) Living With Drought from Bureau of
Meteorology, Commonwealth of
Australia
- http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/livedrought.shtml
- 6) Response to Drought in Southern Africa from
U.S. Agency for International
Development
- http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2002/fs020510.html
- 7) Water Page - Drought http://www.thewaterpage.com/drought1.htm
-
- Dryland
Web
- http://www.undp.org/seed/unso/
- The Office to Combat Desertification and
Drought (UNSO), created in 1973 in response to
the drought in the Sahel region, is part of the
United Nations Development Programme and
responsible for promoting sound dryland management
and development as well as drought preparedness and
mitigation.
-
- Sustainable
Agriculture in Western Canada: Planning for
Droughts Using the Past
- http://www.uregina.ca/biology/faculty/leavitt/drought/drought1.htm
- This project will use new and standard
paleoecological techniques to obtain highly
resolved fossil records of drought from lakes
located in the main agricultural regions of
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
-
- Water
Watch from U.S. Geological
Survey
- http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/
- This site provides maps of the U.S. of
real-time streamflow compared to historical
streamflow for the day of the year.
-
- Websites For Teachers
- Drought,
Nomads and the Price of Peanuts
- http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/schools/swallows/drought.htm
- These lesson activities are fairly
straightforward in scope, comparing traditional
systems with cash cropping groundnuts (peanuts). It
offers one example of the difficulties brought
about by a modern agricultural model in
circumstances which are ecologically fragile.
-
- Drought
Affects Much of U.S. from
Riverdeep
- http://www.riverdeep.net/current/1999/08/080299.drought.jhtml
- Here are some classroom suggestions for
investigating drought.
-
- Earth
Alert - Drought from Discovery
Communications, Inc.
- http://school.discovery.com/schoolfeatures/featurestories/earthalert/drought/
- Here you find three learning activities for
drought.
-
- Examine
the Ecological, Economic and Political Impact of
Drought from Cable News Network
- http://fyi.cnn.com/2002/fyi/lesson.plans/06/13/wildfire/
- Have students determine if their community is
being affected by drought and if so, find out if
local water usage restrictions are in place. Have
students identify a region that is at risk for
drought and determine the long-term ecological,
economic and political impact of prolonged drought
for that region.
-
- Heat
Wave and Drought: Introduction to Environmental
Decision Making
- http://www.worldwatcher.northwestern.edu/userdownloads/pdf/lessonsamples.pdf
- In this lesson activity, students are
introduced to the curriculum through a scenario.
They are assigned to groups, each group
representing a community. Within each community,
they are asked to make decisions about what to do
when faced with shortages of water and
electricity.
-
- Living
Through A Drought (Grades 3-5) from
National Geographic Society
- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/01/g35/drought.html
- In this lesson, students will practice
map-reading skills. Using a drought map of
Afghanistan from Afghanistan, Land in
Crisis site, students will learn how to
recognize drought, where drought can occur, and how
drought affects the people who live in those
places.
-
- Time
and Cycles: "Logs of Straw:
Dendrochronology" from U.S. Geological
Survey
- http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/teachers/globalchange_time.htm
- In this activity straws will be used to
simulate tree-ring core samples. Using the straws,
students will work in groups to reconstruct a 50
year climatic history. Students will record this
chronology on a 3 meter time line designed to
highlight significant social, personal, and
scientific events covering the same period.
-

-
-
-
- Created by
Annette
Lamb and
Larry
Johnson,
7/02.
|