The Global Agricultural and Disaster Assessment System (GADAS) is a web-based Geographic Information System which integrates near real-time Earth Observation data to monitor global agricultural conditions to rapidly assess the impacts of natural disasters on agricultural production. GADAS has over 1000 data layers including environmental, satellite imagery, disaster, and associated data sets that can be interactively visualized or downloaded as charts or maps. The data sets can be used together with user uploaded data and geo-processing tools to enhance analysis and collaborate with colleagues. These datasets in GADAS make analysis easier because the work associated with obtaining the data, making or managing geospatial products, and sharing them are all contained in a single environment. USDA highlights GADAS as a tool other countries may want to use.
Vegetation analysis: GADAS includes cropland data layers at resolutions ranging from 10 m to 10 km. These cropland data can be interactively isolated to view a specific crop and visualize vegetation conditions. A few of the visualizations include metrics such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), soil moisture, drought monitoring, or precipitation anomalies. A time slider enables the viewer to easily examine annual differences in crop conditions.
Agriculture Area Affected Tool: Another useful tool is the Agriculture Area Affected tool, which allows the user to estimate the number of hectares of general croplands or of an individual crop found in another data layer – such as a below normal precipitation category, a drought category, or assess area undergoing reduced soil moisture content.
Identify and Calculate Tool: Natural disasters can have significant impacts on agricultural production. The Identify and Calculate tool can be used to calculate the potential impact of an active hazard, such as a hurricane or flood event, on agricultural production and population. This tool calculates the cropland acreage within a selected administrative boundary or user drawn polygon at a chosen spatial resolution.
Global Agricultural & Disaster Assessment System