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Monitoring Drought Conditions in the Sequoia National Forest, California, by Using Satellite Imagery

AJAS · 2018 Earth and Environmental Sciences (inferred)

Anthony Weng · Terre Haute South Vigo High School, Terre Haute, IN

Overview

The objectives of this study were to determine the general response of vegetation to drought conditions; to test whether moisture deficiency was the limiting factor for vegetation growth in drought conditions; and to determine the temporal lag in vegetation response to varying severities of drought conditions. Vegetation conditions were assessed by computing NDVI (vegetation index) and NDWI (water index) values from NASA’s MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). The time frames of investigation were 2012-2016, the five most recent contiguous years of drought, and 2002-2006, the five most recent contiguous years of non-drought conditions. It is hypothesized that it is feasible to use satellite imagery to investigate vegetation response to drought conditions and that a temporal lag existed and can be determined in the response of vegetation to drought conditions. To test the hypotheses, a methodology was created which involved the synthesis of NDVI, NDWI, and additional indices, the determination of correlations between indices, and multivariate linear regression. Results indicate that vegetation exhibited a detectable response to drought conditions, which can be generalized as an inhibition of vegetation growth. Additionally, satellite data analysis identified moisture deficiency as the limiting factor for vegetation growth under drought conditions, and the temporal lag between changing drought conditions and vegetation response was determined to be 32 days. Further, a predictive drought model was built from satellite derived indices and by incorporation of the time lag factor, which suggested that a significant portion of variability in drought severity can be attributed to NDVI and NDWI.

Competition history

  • AJAS 2018 Category not listed

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Source: AAAS Annual Meeting (Confex) / American Junior Academy of Science

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