DroughtWatch

Drought / drynessDroughtWatch v1.0

DroughtWatch computes a short-window dryness/water-stress PROXY from the 7-day rainfall deficit (Σ ET0 − Σ rain), topsoil moisture, evaporative demand, vapour pressure deficit and land-cover sensitivity. Without a climatological baseline it never claims an official drought classification.

Run DroughtWatch

Live mode uses keyless open providers; demo mode is deterministic and offline. Missing data lowers confidence — it never fakes a value.

LatitudeLongitudeData

Score formula

DroughtWatch = 0.30·rainfall_deficit + 0.25·soil_moisture_deficit + 0.20·evapotranspiration_pressure + 0.15·vpd + 0.10·landcover_sensitivity

30%rainfall_deficit_score

25%soil_moisture_deficit

20%evapotranspiration_pressure

15%vpd_score

10%landcover_sensitivity

Required inputs

precipitation deficit proxy (Σ ET0 − Σ rain, trailing 7 days, mm)
soil moisture 0–1 / 1–3 cm (m³/m³)

Optional inputs

evapotranspiration ET0 (mm/24 h)
vapour pressure deficit (kPa)
temperature (°C), land-cover sensitivity

Missing optional inputs drop their formula term (weights renormalize) and reduce confidence — the engine never crashes or invents data.

Decision modes

normal

Normal

No elevated dryness signal.

dry_watch

Dry watch

Rainfall deficit and evaporative demand are building a dryness signal.

drought_stress

Drought stress (proxy)

Strong short-window dryness proxy — vegetation and topsoil under stress.

water_stress

Water stress (proxy)

Severe dryness proxy with sensitive land cover — water availability attention.

insufficient_data

Insufficient data

Not enough dryness inputs to assess.

Limitations

No long-term climatological baseline is used: this is a 7-day dryness PROXY, not an official drought classification (SPI/SPEI/PDSI).
Irrigation, reservoirs and groundwater are not modelled.
Topsoil moisture (0–3 cm) responds faster than root-zone water availability.

Model card

DroughtWatch is a self-built TerraSentinel engine: external providers supply live environmental variables; the score, mode, confidence, explanation and actions above are computed by this project’s own documented model. Provider risk indexes are used only as benchmark references and never as the output. API: GET /api/engines/droughtwatch/run?lat=&lon=

TerraSentinel is a decision-support tool and does not replace official emergency services, government warnings, or professional environmental management decisions.