Drought Monitoring of Chhattisgarh Using Different Indices Based on Remote Sensing Data

Abstract

The mid-latitude and new born state Chhattisgarh faces drought due to poor and delayed monsoon, very high summer temperature and in sufficient water resources. In the present study detailed analysis of vegetative and meteorological drought indicative indices of the study area, has been carried out for the years 2009–2012. Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) has been used to quantify the precipitation deficit. It is calculated using TRMM Monthly gridded rainfall data. Vegetative drought indices like Vegetation Health Index (VHI) obtained from Global Vegetation Index (GVI) of NOAA AVHRR satellite. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) obtained from MODIS. Detailed analyses of spatial and temporal drought Indices during monsoon and non-monsoon seasons have been carried out through. Drought Index Maps generated in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment. Analysis and interpretation of these maps reveal that there is severe drought condition in Chhattisgarh on 2009, 2011 and 2012. Mainly pre-monsoon condition have faced drought due to lack of rainfall. So, Drought and precipitation are interdependent. There is good correlation between SPI and VHI, and Poor correlation between SPI and NDVI. Also there is some correlation between VHI and NDVI. These indices are also inter-dependent, interrelated and good indicator of drought.