EUMETSAT is organizing the 7th SALGEE Workshop “Drought & Vegetation Monitoring: Energy–Water Cycle”, to be held virtually from 24 to 26 November 2021. The mission of the EUMETSAT SALGEE Project is to complement the activities of Land Surface Analyses Satellite Application Facility (LSA SAF) to increase the benefit accrued from EUMETSAT Satellite Missions (geostationary and low Earth orbit satellites) for the target region: South-Eastern and Eastern Europe (and other regions of interest).

Land ecosystems have increasingly been subject to heavy drought, their role in weather and climate associated with extreme events and their prediction are more and more realized. Thus quantitatively evaluating drought impacts on ecosystems is an important task of present research. To facilitate the use of satellite data, EUMETSAT has developed a Prototype Data Cube for Drought & Vegetation Monitoring (D&V Cube), which is a new approach of providing multi-dimensional data from different providers to users.

The 7th SALGEE workshop is focused on using satellite information to characterize different aspects of drought of vegetated land surfaces, related physical processes and consequences, using long (climate) data records. It is aimed at identification of research and operational opportunities in using data for drought, vegetation and wildfire provided by LSA SAF and promoting related products from CM SAF (Climate Monitoring), H SAF (Support to Hydrology and Water Management), and other information sources. First experiences on using the D&V Cube will be presented, giving feedback on its utilization for potential applications.

SALGEE, The Satellite Applications in Land surface analyses Group for Eastern Europe, has been established after the workshop on ‘MSG applications in LSA: Drought & Fires’, organised by EUMETSAT and the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) of Bulgaria in 2009. Six SALGEE Workshops focused on drought in the view of climate-vegetation relations have been held since 2009. These activities are co-ordinated by a senior researcher from the Remote Sensing Division of NIMH. The SALGEE meetings have gathered experts from 31 countries of 5 continents, including satellite product developers from EUMETSAT, NOAA, NASA and other agencies, senior researchers, trainers, and experienced users from the national meteorological services. Two leading scientists as well as 8 other participants from NIMH have attended the previous SALGEE workshops.