Capability of Satellite Imageries in detecting Agricultural drought: Case study in Ping river basin

Abstract

Lacking of drought ground truth results in difficulty in development of drought forecast model in validation process. This study aims to investigate capability of satellite imageries in indicating agricultural drought in order that satellite imageries can be used in steady of drought ground truth. Ping river basin, frequently experiences drought, was selected as study area. Data from MODIS satellite, land use maps, drought ground truth from Disasters Prevention and Mitigation Department, crop yield data from the Office of Agricultural Economics during 2014 -2020 were collected for analysis of agreement between drought ground truth and satellite data. The results reveal that Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST) retrieved from MODIS satellite every 16 days, are able to indicate activities of rice, consequently implying damages in agricultural drought. It has been found that NDVI between 0.37 to 0.59 and LST between 26.11 to 42.97 are values indicating drought situation for rice in this study area. Validation of such criteria was conducted using data 2014 2015 2017 2019 to 2020 and . The results reveal that MODIS satellite can be used as agricultural ground truth with accuracy around 70%