Study of climatic drought in Algerian high plateaus using standardized precipitation index and observations from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer

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Abstract
The high plateaus of Algeria is a critical region to policymakers in terms of social, economic, and infrastructure development. The main goal of the present work was to monitor the climatic drought and its impact on vegetation health across the Algerian high plateaus using remote sensing techniques. Vegetation health index (VHI) showed a clear drought in the western region of the study area. The results show practically three periods of drought were evident: October to December 2006, November to December 2009, and December 2012. Agreeable correlations among the obtained results using standard precipitation index for 3 months (SPI-3) and other satellite indicators such as temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) and VHI were obtained. TVDI and VHI agreed well with the ground-based observations from SPI-3; thus, these may serve as key and easily accessible indicators of drought. The research shows motivating results that decision makers can use to take timely corrective measures to minimize the reduction in agricultural production in drought prone areas.

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