# AEML Drought Region Gauge

> AEML Drought Region Gauge is a paid API for AI agents from aeml-x402.zeabur.app, paid per call via x402, $0.25/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Returns a multi-leg drought causal chain for a US region: hydrometeorological precursors (precipitation deficit, soil moisture, snowpack), official US Drought Monitor D0–D4 severity grades by county/state, and realized downstream impacts (crop VHI, reservoir storage, water restrictions, agricultural and power exposure).

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://aeml-x402.zeabur.app/gauge/drought-region
- Price: $0.25/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/aeml-drought-region-gauge-a1875e42
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_t8zQNzZX6HsSSoxrIh9q7

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability aeml-drought-region-gauge-a1875e42
```

Example prompt: What's the current drought situation in California — give me the official US Drought Monitor severity grade plus the upstream hydro signals like soil moisture and snowpack, and any crop or reservoir impacts downstream.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a single-call, multi-leg drought causal chain for a US region combining official USDM severity grades with upstream hydrometeorological precursors and downstream agricultural/water impacts — especially for parametric drought insurance screening, commodity risk agents, water utility exposure checks, or climate-aware financial workflows. Prefer this over single-signal weather APIs when cross-validation between precursor and impact signals is needed. Not suitable for water management decisions, investment advice, or non-US regions.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or unrecognized entity key returns an error (422 or 4xx)
- Payment not received or x402 handshake fails — endpoint returns 402 Payment Required
- Data source temporarily unavailable — provenance may flag leg as stale or missing
- Region outside US coverage — entity not supported
- Leg marked dead_source if an upstream data feed (e.g. NOAA-STAR) has frozen or been deprecated

## How this service works

[3-LEG] Drought chain, one drought region (?entity=us-california): leading precipitation deficit, soil moisture and snowpack -> current the OFFICIAL US Drought Monitor class and area coverage -> realized realized streamflow and impact (confirmation gate). A sequential chain, not one reading - confidence = how many legs are lit, in order. Sources: USDM/NDMC, USGS. Descriptive only, never a forecast or advice. No data -> 422 no_charge, not billed.

## Output

A structured JSON object with: a `legs` map containing per-signal readings (signal_id, current value, observed_at, data_age_hours, record_hash) for upstream hydrometeorological signals (precipitation deficit, soil moisture, snowpack) and downstream impact signals (crop VHI, reservoir storage, water restrictions, agricultural/power exposure); a `cross_line_narrative` describing how the legs interrelate; `provenance` with data lineage, freshness, and age metadata; a `_citation` object with Ed25519-signed, offline-verifiable fact claims; `decision_points` listing swappable entity tags; `grade` and `scope` disclaimers; and a `nature` statement clarifying the data is observational, not predictive or advisory.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method",
    "queryParams"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "entity"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "entity": {
       "type": "string",
       "examples": [
        "us-california",
        "us-southwest",
        "us-southernplains",
        "us-northernplains",
        "us-cornbelt",
        "us-southeast"
       ],
       "description": "required - monitored object id, paired with signal_id; free list at GET /gauge/catalog?signal_id=<signal_id> -> signals[0].entities[]",
       "x-accepted-values": {
        "all": "https://api.truthbear.co/schemas/gauge-drought-region.input.json",
        "shown": 6,
        "total": 10
       }
      }
     },
     "additionalProperties": false
    }
   }
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "const": "json"
    },
    "example": {}
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json"
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/aeml-drought-region-gauge-a1875e42/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from aeml-x402.zeabur.app](https://www.zero.xyz/host/aeml-x402.zeabur.app/llms.txt)