Comparative Evaluation of Microwave L-Band VOD and Optical NDVI for Agriculture Drought Detection over Central Europe

Afshar M., Al-Yaari A., YILMAZ M. T.

REMOTE SENSING, cilt.13, sa.7, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 13 Sayı: 7
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3390/rs13071251
  • Dergi Adı: REMOTE SENSING
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, CAB Abstracts, Compendex, INSPEC, Veterinary Science Database, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: agricultural drought, SMOS VOD, NDVI, SPI, SOIL-MOISTURE, VEGETATION DYNAMICS, DEPTH, SMOS, SENSITIVITY, PERFORMANCE, MONGOLIA, INDEXES, IMPACT, RECORD
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Agricultural droughts impose many economic and social losses on various communities. Most of the effective tools developed for agricultural drought assessment are based on vegetation indices (VIs). The aim of this study is to compare the response of two commonly used VIs to meteorological droughts-Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) vegetation optical depth (VOD). For this purpose, meteorological droughts are calculated by using a standardized precipitation index over more than 24,000 pixels at 0.25 degrees x 0.25 degrees spatial resolution located in central Europe. Then, to evaluate the capability of VIs in the detection of agricultural droughts, the average values of VIs anomalies during dry and wet periods obtained from meteorological droughts are statistically compared to each other. Additionally, to assess the response time of VIs to meteorological droughts, a time lag of one to six months is applied to the anomaly time series of VIs during their comparison. Results show that over 35% of the considered pixels NDVI, over 22% of VOD, and over 8% of both VIs anomalies have a significant response to drought events, while the significance level of these differences and the response time of VIs vary with different land use and climate conditions.