Techniques and tools for monitoring agriculture drought: A review

Abstract

Drought is a global phenomenon that silently spreads and creates an insidious hazard by destabilizing the hydrological cycle over a large region. Due to increased frequency, severity, and negative impact on climate conditions, droughts have drawn worldwide attention. Real-time drought monitoring and quantification is a prerequisite to ensure the well-being of inhabitants and appropriate management of water, food, and social resources. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the agricultural drought and its association with other drought types and monitoring using satellite remote sensing images and various hydrological model-simulated datasets. Furthermore, a few widely used and essential indices for agricultural drought were discussed along with their importance and limitations. Usage of an advanced drought assessment platform and related case studies were also discussed. The chapter concludes with the challenges in agriculture drought monitoring and provides the roadmap for future research.