FOOD SECURITY AND MONITORING SYSTEMS - Food Security, Food Prices and Climate Variability - page 42

TABLE 2.3 Biophysical data for monitoring food production variability

Data type Product Description Spatial extent Resolution Time step/temporal extent

Precipitation NOAA 1 Rainfall Estimate Multi-sensor (Meteosat,

TRMM, 2 AMSR/E 3 ) and
gauge merged model

Regional (Africa, South
Asia)

0.1 degree Daily, 10-day 2006 to

present

Precipitation CHiRP 4 data Geostationary IR 5

temperature (Meteosat/
AVHRR 6 ) and gauge
merged model

Global 0.05 degree Daily, 10-day 1980 to

present

Precipitation TRMM 2 - Tropical Rainfall

Monitoring Mission

Multi-sensor and gauge
merged model

Global 0.25 degree Daily, 1997 to present

Precipitation Global Telecommunication

System Station Data

Station data, daily,
automatically delivered to
WHO 7 networks

Global Point Daily historical series

vary

Precipitation Rain gauge networks Country-level station data,

variable densities,
available only in each
country, not openly
shared

Nearly all countries Point Daily

Season descriptors Start of season, end of

season, length

Determines beginning of
growing season, based on
rainfall data

Regional (Africa,
Central America,
Haiti)

0.1 degree Every 10 days, no

historical time series

Lake levels Global reservoir and lake

monitor

Satellite altimetry and
observations

Global Point Daily, when

observations permit

Yield models Water requirement

satisfaction index (WRSI)
crop model

Estimates potential percent
reduction in crop yields
by crop type

Regional (Africa,
southwest Asia,
Central America,
Haiti)

0.1 degree Daily, no historical time

series

Pastureconditions Rangeland WRSI Estimates rangeland grass

condition

Regional (Africa) 0.1 degree Daily, no historical time

series

Rainfall and temperature
forecast

NOAA Global Forecast
System

Estimates precipitation 1 to
7 days into the future

Global 0.25 degree Daily

Snow depth Northern Hemisphere snow

depth from data
assimilation using
Community Land Model

Model that estimates snow
depth in centimeters

North of the equator 0.5 degree Daily, limited time series