Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

This paper aimed to characterize the spatial and temporal pattern of agricultural drought in Pre-Kharif season using Vegetation Health Index (VHI) and illustrated drought characteristics in Bangladesh during 2001-2015. VHI was calculated from TCI (Temperature Condition Index) and VCI (Vegetation Condition Index) derived from MODIS Terra satellite data, LST (Land Surface Temperature) and EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index), respectively. The finding showed that all drought-affected areas were experienced by mild, moderate, severe and extreme droughts in several years of Pre-Kharif seasons. Significant drought events were found in the year of 2002 and 2013. On average, Chittagong district covered the largest drought area in all drought stages, and the fraction of drought area was the highest in Sylhet and Rangpur for Pre-Kharif season. Finally, overlaying annual VHI raster maps resulted in that the most vulnerable district to agricultural drought were Sylhet, Rangpur, and Mymensingh in the northern and eastern regions of Bangladesh.