Can We Use Satellite-Based FAPAR to Detect Drought?

Olaf Danne,Jan-Peter Muller,Nadine Gobron,Jian Peng,Simon Dadson,Ben Müller,Ralf Giering,Simon Blessing,Ralf Ludwig,Guoyong Leng,Zheng Duan,Qinglong You,Said Kharbouche

doi:10.3390/s19173662

Abstract

Drought in Australia has widespread impacts on agriculture and ecosystems. Satellite-based Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) has great potential to monitor and assess drought impacts on vegetation greenness and health. Various FAPAR products based on satellite observations have been generated and made available to the public. However, differences remain among these datasets due to different retrieval methodologies and assumptions. The Quality Assurance for Essential Climate Variables (QA4ECV) project recently developed a quality assurance framework to provide understandable and traceable quality information for Essential Climate Variables (ECVs). The QA4ECV FAPAR is one of these ECVs. The aim of this study is to investigate the capability of QA4ECV FAPAR for drought monitoring in Australia. Through spatial and temporal comparison and correlation analysis with widely used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT)/PROBA-V FAPAR generated by Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS), and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) drought index, as well as the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) soil moisture, the study shows that the QA4ECV FAPAR can support agricultural drought monitoring and assessment in Australia. The traceable and reliable uncertainties associated with the QA4ECV FAPAR provide valuable information for applications that use the QA4ECV FAPAR dataset in the future.

Highlights

Hydroclimatic extremes such as heat waves and droughts are a common occurrence in arid and semiarid areas of the world such as Australia [1]
This study aimed to evaluate the newly developed QA4ECV Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) dataset for drought analysis
This study aimed to evaluate the newly developed QA4ECV FAPAR dataset for drought in Australia

Summary

Introduction

Hydroclimatic extremes such as heat waves and droughts are a common occurrence in arid and semiarid areas of the world such as Australia [1]. Most of Australia has experienced severe droughts and heat waves in recent decades, which have induced significant stress on natural environmental and socioeconomic systems [3,4]. (2001–2009) in southeast Australia caused severe damage to ecosystems and agriculture, and led to the enforcement of water restrictions in many cities [5,6]. Climate projections show that there will be a further increase in the frequency and severity of hydroclimatic extreme events in Australia [7]

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Conclusion