Remote sensing for drought risk assessment in Morocco

The objective of this study is to develop a comprehensive approach of drought risk management based on indicators calculated from biophysical parameters extracted from NOAA/AVHRR data over Morocco. Drought early warning requires the use of macrogeographic data generated at national scale and collected daily, decadal or monthly. The calculated indicators in the framework of this study are: Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), Temperature Condition Index (TCI) and Vegetation Health Index (VHI). These indicators are used for the characterization of vegetation health and drought monitoring in Morocco. The generated satellite based indicators maps were compared to the maps of Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) calculated from precipitations derived from satellite. (C) 2017 Lavoisier