Using a Decomposing Method to Analyze the Spatial–Temporal Relationship Between Vegetation Drought and Wildfire in California

California experienced the severest drought in the last 1200 years from 2012–2016. This drought impacted the different vegetation communities and caused several serious fire events. In this study, we investigated the spatial-temporal relationship between vegetation drought and wildfire in California by using independent components derived from independent component analysis (ICA). The independent component of vegetation indicator, Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), and teleconnection indicators were considered as the independent variables to describe the intensity, duration, and spatial coverage of vegetation drought. The independent component of aerosol optical depth (AOD) of black carbon (BOD) was considered as the dependent variable to identify the location of severe wildfire. Then, a linear regression model was built for the relationship. The results show the predicted vegetation drought has a good spatial-temporal agreement with the BOD.