Monitoring Drought Dynamics in the Ejin Oasis using Drought Indices from MODIS Data

The Ejin Oasis in arid environments suffers with frequent drought due to insufficient water resources and abnormally high summer-temperature. Detailed analysis of remote sensing data has been carried out for the years 2001-2006. Vegetative drought indices like Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) and Temperature Condition Index (TCI) and Vegetation Health Index (VHI) have been derived using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values obtained from TERRA/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectoradiometer (MODIS). Moisture Condition Index (MCI) has been developed to assess hydrological droughts using Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) values obtained from MODIS/TERRA. Detailed analyses of spatial and temporal drought dynamics for seasons have been compared through drought index maps generated in geographical information systems environments during the 2001 to 2006 period. Analysis and interpretation of these maps will show the spatial patterns of drought with vegetative drought indices and hydrological drought indices. Furthermore, results will help us to identify the high drought risk areas and the short term trend of drought in the Ejin Oasis.