Coping with Drought Competition: Understanding and Assessing Drought in a Changing Climate

In August 2024, NIDIS announced up to $4 million in funding for 8 two-year projects as part of the Fiscal Year 2025 NIDIS Coping with Drought: Understanding and Assessing Drought in a Changing Climate competition. This competition seeks projects focused on improving drought indicator performance to account for non-stationarity with the goal of more accurate drought assessments that support communities in preparing for, mitigating, and responding to drought. 

In Fiscal Year 2025, approximately $2 million will be available for the first year of funding for up to 8 new awards, pending budget appropriations. It is anticipated that most awards will be at a funding level between $50,000 and $250,000 per year over 2 years for a total of up to $500,000. 

This competition addresses needs identified in the NOAA/NIDIS Drought Assessment in a Changing Climate Technical Memorandum, based on a technical workshop co-hosted by NIDIS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Climate Hubs. The Technical Memorandum captures the input from more than 100 subject matter experts, who during the meeting identified priority actions and outstanding research questions across fifteen focus areas. This Technical Memorandum is the focus of the Fiscal Year 2025 NIDIS Coping with Drought grant competition, which seeks projects to advance a key focus area: “Improving Drought Indicator Performance.”