Multitemporal Analysis of Drought in Iran: Monitoring and Evaluation of Spatial and Temporal Characteristics Using MODIS Indices

This study identified and described drought using multiple MODIS-based indicators, so the temporal-spatial characteristics of the intensity and frequency of drought in the entire country in the period from 2001 to 2021 using the standardized precipitation index in the form of one month SPI-1. Three-month SPI-3 and one-year SPI-12, based on CHIRPS precipitation data set with spatial resolution of 5 km, vegetation condition index (VCI), temperature condition index (TCI) and vegetation health index (VHI) were investigated. the distribution of rainfall in the southeastern and central regions of the country is less than 200 mm per year. Examining the ratio of drought classes based on the TCI index shows that the area ratio of the areas that are in the severe drought class in 2020 and 2021 is 36.7% and 43.2%, respectively, which has increased by about 7%. The comparison of the area of the drought class of the TCI and VCI indices also shows that the VCI index has overestimated the areas in the severe drought class by 3.7% and 5.1% in 2020 and 2021. Also, the VHI index shows that 6 provinces in the southern region of the country have experienced long-term drought between 2009 and 2021.