The 2012 agricultural drought assessment in Nebraska using MODIS satellite data

Among many human-related sectors, agriculture is often the first and most vulnerable sector to be affected by drought events. In 2012, nearly two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. had been hit by severe drought. The Great Plains had most severe drought conditions, with states such as Nebraska suffering successive and widespread exceptional drought. In Nebraska, where grain and soybean account for nearly 90 percent of agricultural output, the 2012 exceptional drought profoundly and distinctly affected local agricultural productivity. In this study, MODIS-based Vegetation Health Index (VHI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used to monitor agricultural drought in Nebraska during the corn-growing season of 2012. The temporal variations and spatial features of drought captured by both of indices were analyzed. Results showed that both VHI and NDVI Anomaly could capture drought development quite well, and spatial similarities were found between VHI and NDVI Anomaly drought maps for most agricultural areas.