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And according to a recent study led by geoscientists at The University of Texas at Austin, the drought was worse than previously thought.
The study, published in the Journal of Hydrology, incorporated additional soil moisture-related data from gravity and microwave sensors on satellites into a land surface model used by scientists to determine the severity of droughts. According to the updated model simulation, severe drought was more widespread and longer lasting than judged by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), which is the current standard for designating drought across the United States.
"The development of technology has allowed us to gain more real-time observation, and this observation can more accurately reflect the ground conditions," said Weijing Chen, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences.
Even though the 2011 drought is now a decade gone, the study results are important because they show that incorporating new sources of data related to soil moisture into an existing land surface model can more accurately predict the severity and impact of droughts.
Soil moisture is a key indicator of drought and one of the most important factors when it comes to a drought's impact on agricultural production.
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