During the Stage I Feasibility period, we propose to develop a multi-scale drought monitoring tool for North America based on remotely sensed estimates of evapotranspiration. The Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) represents anomalies in the ratio of actual-to-potential ET (fPET), generated with the thermal remote sensing based Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) surface energy balance model. The assembled research team has demonstrated that ALEXI ESI over the continental US (CONUS) shows good correspondence with standard drought metrics and antecedent precipitation, but can be generated at significantly higher spatial resolution due to a limited reliance on ground observations. Because precipitation is not used in construction of the ESI, this index provides an independent assessment of drought conditions and will have particular utility for real-time monitoring in regions with sparse rainfall data or significant delays in meteorological reporting. The proposed ESI domain will include all of North America (to 60°N) and a climatology of weekly maps will be generated for 2000-present. This dataset will be provided to end-users in NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) who will evaluate utility for use in the North American Drought Briefing. The climatology will also be compared with retrospective drought classifications and standard drought metrics used in the North American Drought Monitor (NADM), which is a cooperative effort between Canada, Mexico and the United States to monitor drought across the continent on an ongoing basis. Collaborators at the National Drought Mitigation Center will assess potential for integration of ESI into routine NADM reports. Finally, we will work with collaborators at the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service to establish utility of ESI in monitoring crop condition over CONUS. A prototype 'Google Drought' demonstration will be developed over select drought affected areas in NA, using thermal imagery from Landsat, MODIS and GOES to zoom into drought conditions at the field scale.