Drought Index Mapping in Java Island Using Sentinel-3 SLSTR

Abstract

As the most populous island globally, Java Island has various vulnerabilities to disasters ranging from geological to hydro-meteorological. One of the most common hydro-meteorological disasters is the drought that occurs every year in the dry season. This disaster causes crop failure, land and forest fires, and clean water shortages. In this study, the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) instrument onboard the Sentinel-3 platform was used to map drought using the Vegetation Temperature Condition Index (VTCI) algorithm based on the scattering space technique of Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI). During 2018, the highest and lowest LST occurred on September 28 (309 oK), and February 1 (278 oK); the highest and lowest NDVI occurred on July 1 (0.466) and November 13 (0.221). In comparison, the driest conditions indicated the lowest VTCI (0.162) on July 17 and the wettest on August 28 (0.508). The driest and wettest situation co-occurred: at the end of the dry session and the rainy session, it shows that the rain greatly contributes to high VTCI. A regular drought mapping needs to be performed as an effort to disaster risk reduction. Drought maps are then used as a spatial recommendation in reforestation intervention to reduce drought in the future.