Analysis of the relationship between meteorological and agricultural drought of 2007 in Bartın province, Türkiye

Abstract

Drought is a recurring climatic event that devastates agriculture and depletes surface and
subsurface water resources. While it cannot be avoided, it can be monitored to mitigate its
negative effects on economy. In recent decades, remote sensing has played a major role to
track droughts from space. In this study, the 16-day composite Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI) images collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer onboard the Terra satellite between 2000 and 2016 along with the
Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) was used to monitor the drought event of 2007 in Bartın
province, Türkiye. Later, the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) was calculated using
precipitation observations recorded at the meteorological station managed by the Turkish
State Meteorological Service (MGM) to validate the drought findings of the VCI method. The
results indicated that there was a 4-month lag of vegetation to precipitation and
meteorological drought signaled by SPI led to agricultural drought indicated by VCI in 2007 in
the study area.