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Drought assessment
M8L5
Drought assessment
M8L5
Drought assessment
NADAMS provides near real-time information on the prevalence, severity level and
persistence of agricultural drought at national/ state / district level during the kharif season.
Initial objectives of the program were to provide periodic drought monitoring at district level,
during the kharif season (June-October). With the advancement of technology, the objectives
have been modified, and currently the mission provides drought monitoring at district level
for the entire country. In addition, river basin-wise and crop-wise comprehensive drought
monitoring is also achieved under the mission.
The details of the NADAMS shown in this lecture are mainly from the work done by Dr.
A.T. Jayaseelan, and his colleagues in NRSA, Hyderabad.
3.1 Drought assessment under NADAMS
Fig. 2 shows the conceptualization of various droughts in the NADAMS. Accordingly,
agricultural drought is assessed by measuring the crop biophysical parameters and in turn the
vegetation index and yield condition through remote sensing.
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Drought assessment
In the NADAMS, vegetation indices (e.g., NDVI) derived from the remote sensing data have
been used to assess the drought severity. NDVI is also used to derive other relevant
parameters such as GNDVI (weighted average vegetation index over entire geographical area
of each district), MNDVI (weighted average vegetation index over vegetation area of each
district), VA (vegetation area) and Cl (the residual cloud cover).
Drought assessment in any reporting period is based on comparison of district NDVI profile
till then to the seasonal profiles of the normal year. For example, Fig. 3 shows the NDVI
profile for the Sikar District in Rajastan.
Profile anomalies are interpreted in terms of moisture stress conditions and relative severity
level. The relative drought severity level (normal, mild, moderate and severe) is assessed on
the basis of criteria such as delay in vegetation growth (1 fortnight, 2 fortnights, 3-4
fortnights and more than 4 fortnights) and the VI anomaly, compared to normal year in
percentage: up to 10% low, 10-25 % low, 25-50% low and more than 50% low.
Drought assessment methodology of the NADAMS consists of two components or two
segments: ground segment and space segment.
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Drought assessment
Ground segment
The ground segment consists of collection and aggregation of the ground based information
pertaining to the land use conditions, crop particulars such as cropping pattern, crop duration,
yield, irrigated and rainfed area identification. It also consists of the derivation of the
correlation between the vegetation indices and the crop yield.
Fig.4 shows the schematic representation of the ground segment of the NADAMS.
Fig.4. Schematic representation of the ground segment of the NADAMS drought assessment
program
Space segment
The space segment consists of generation of the NDVI images, district level statistics
extraction, drought assessment integrating the satellite and ground segment information etc.
Fig.5 shows the schematic representation of the space segment of the NADAMS.
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Drought assessment
Fig.5. Schematic representation of the space segment of the NADAMS drought assessment
program
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Drought assessment
Detailed drought analysis at sub-district level is achieved for four states (Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Haryana and Maharashtra) by using moderate resolution Advanced Wide Field
Sensor (AWiFS) of Resourcesat 1 (IRS P6), and WiFS of IRS 1C and 1D data.
The raw satellite data are collected from the respective organizations and the basic
corrections viz., geometric correction, radiometric corrections and panoramic corrections are
made. Further the data is used to extract the vegetation indices as well as the land surface
temperature.
The NOAA AVHRR data processing method with the sequence of steps on radiometric and
geometric correction, cloud masking and time composition algorithm was developed by
Jeyaseelan and Malleswara Rao (1987). Fig.6 shows the steps involved in the satellite image
processing in the NADAMS.
Fig. 6. Schematic representation of the algorithm used for estimating drought statistics from
remote sensing data
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Drought assessment
Fig. 8 shows a sample VI image showing the color coded, final maximum value composite
for entire India, in September 2001.
Fig.7 Color coded NDVI image generated using remote sensing images
Once the parameters are extracted from the satellite images, the administrative boundaries are
overlaid over these images in a GIS framework as shown in Fig. 9-10. This helps to extract
the details for each administrative block and hence to derive the respective statistics.
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Drought assessment
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Drought assessment
For each state, district level analyses are provided, as well as the summary report for the
entire state. These drought reports are disseminated fortnightly / monthly through post, e-mail
and DMS-VP network.
Biweekly bulletin contains vegetation index image, greenness comparison map and drought
assessment report and progressive drought status at district level for every state. Based on the
district level analysis, first cut drought alert is sent to the Central and State Govt.
Departments related with agriculture and revenue including district level officers through
telephone in 3-4 days. In addition, the printed bulletin is sent in 10 days.
Monthly bulletins contain district wise agricultural background, consolidated reports on rain
and agricultural operation, satellite based assessment on current vegetation development,
early warning on subsequent period condition, and expected reduction in yield from major
crops. These bulletins are sent to the Central and State Govt. Departments related with
agriculture and relief.
This information, provided in terms of bulletin in a periodic and time effective manner, will
help the resource managers in optimally allocating the financial and other resources to where
and when they are most needed.
Fig. 11 shows the NDVI maps of Maharashtra in 2001, and the drought condition estimated
based on the NDVI.
Tables 1 and 2 show the sample drought reports generated by NADAMS for Haryana state in
2001.
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Table 1. District-wise drought assessment and early warning for Haryana as on 30/09/2001
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The current NDVI is compared with the corresponding period of normal NDVI
* Cloud cover is more than 20% of the geographical area
Caution: The comparative condition need to be viewed with caution if there is significant residual cloud cover
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Drought assessment
Regional monitoring
Detailed drought analysis at sub-district level is achieved for four states (Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Haryana and Maharashtra) by using moderate resolution IRS AWiFS, and WiFS
data.
Fig.12 shows the monthly composite NDVI image of agricultural area, India in September
2003, generated from the IRS WiFS data.
No Data
Fig.11. IRS WiFS monthly composite NDVI image of agricultural area, India, Sep. 2003
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Drought assessment
At the regional level, NADAMS provides the following information for the kharif season.
Information by end of August
o Table showing sub-district cropped area till the end of July and August and crop
condition assessment
o Maps of cropped area and condition assessment for each district
Information by end of September
o Table showing sub-district cropped area till the end of September, crop condition
assessment and early warning
Information by end of October
o Table showing Mandal wise cropped area, crop condition assessment and early
warning on expected yield.
For each state, NADAMS generates monthly report at Mandal / Taluk (sub-district) level.
Crop condition is estimated using the NDVI estimated from the satellite imagery. Similarly,
crop moisture status is estimated using the index NDWI (Normalized Difference Water
Index) from satellite images.
NWDI = (NIR SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)
For example, Fig. 13and 14 show the crop condition and crop moisture status, respectively in
Maharashtra in September 2006, derived using the NDVI and the NDWI from the AWiFS
data.
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Central Agencies
o Dept. of Agriculture and Cooperation
o Planning commission
o India Meteorological Department
State Agencies
o State Relief Department
o State Agricultural Department
o State remote sensing application centers
District report
o
Satellite Remote Sensing and GIS can play a very important role in Agricultural Drought
Assessment and its mitigation
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