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Comparison of the capability of the Meteorological and Remote Sensing Drought Indices

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Abstract

According to the importance of selecting the appropriate index for assessing drought, in this study, the performance of ten drought indices including six meteorological and four remote sensing drought indices for assessing drought conditions in 1, 3, 6, and 12-month time scales at the Fars province was compared. In this research, the climatic data series of ten synoptic stations, actual data series of annual rain-fed winter wheat yield (AWWY) in 25 counties, and data of Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from 2000 to 2020 were used. First, the zoning map of drought indices and AWWY (for each year) was prepared. Then, the 1000 random points over the study area were selected, and based on the data series of these points, the correlation coefficient (CC) between drought indices and AWWY, based on the XI correlation method (XICOR), was estimated for each year. Eventually, the clustering analysis method was used to cluster drought indices (based on estimated correlations). The results indicated that the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) had the lowest CC with the AWWY in all years. Among remote sensing drought indices, the overall level of the estimated CC between the Temperature Condition Index (TCI), and Precipitation Condition Index (PCI) with the AWWY was more than other indices. Also, among meteorological drought indices, the overall level of the estimated CC between the Modified Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (MSPEI), Modified Reconnaissance Drought Index (MRDI), and Modified Standardized Precipitation Index (MSPI) with the AWWY was more than other indices. According to the results, on average, the MSPEI, MRDI, and MSPI indices with the highest CC with the AWWY were the best drought indices, respectively.

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Data Availability

The data used in this research are available by the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of the article would like to thank the Fars Meteorological Organization and the Fars Agricultural Organization for their assistance in providing the necessary data for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Range and Watershed Management (Nature Engineering), College of Agriculture, Fasa University, Fasa, 74681-77375, Iran

    Abdol Rassoul Zarei

  2. Department of Geography, Faculty of Economics, Management and Social Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Marzieh Mokarram

  3. Department of Range and Watershed Management, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Darab, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Marzieh Mokarram

  4. Department of Statistics, College of Science, Fasa University, Fasa, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Mahmoudi

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The participation of Abdol Rassoul Zarei and Marzeh Mokarram includes the data collection, analyzing the results and writing the article, and the participation of Mohammad Reza Mahmoudi includes help to analyzing the results.

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Correspondence to Abdol Rassoul Zarei.

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Zarei, A.R., Mokarram, M. & Mahmoudi, M.R. Comparison of the capability of the Meteorological and Remote Sensing Drought Indices. Water Resour Manage 37, 769–796 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-022-03403-x

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