Assessment of Post-monsoon Drought Over Marathawada Region (Maharashtra, India) Using MODIS Data

Drought is a natural hazard that has a significant effect on the socio-economic, agricultural, and environmental aspects of a region. The Marathwada division of Maharashtra state is infamous for recurring drought situations. Poor precipitation, lack of water storage, relatively high temperature in pre and post-monsoon seasons, and variable unfavorable weather conditions lead to drought in this region. Post-monsoon drought mainly occurs due to deficit rainfall and a sudden increase in temperature. This study represents the overall assessment of post-monsoon drought over Marathwada during October, November, and December for the period 2001 to 2017. Monsoon rainfall deficit results in post-monsoon drought in subsequent months. Detection and monitoring of drought over large areas are possible through remote sensing indices namely, Temperature Condition Index (TCI), Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), and Vegetation Health Index (VHI). VHI is the resultant index from temperature and vegetation indices, which helps to understand vegetation health. During the last 17 years, moderate to severe drought has been observed in two successive years of 2014 and 2015, where TCI, VCI, and VHI indices indicated these years as drought-prone years for the post-monsoon season. Particularly, Bid, Osmanabad, Latur, Nanded, and Parbhani districts suffered severe drought in these successive years. Whereas, all the other years except 2010 and 2017 experienced normal conditions to moderate drought in the Marathwada region. Due to erratic rainfall, it is necessary to plan water utilization and storage in Marathwada to overcome the recurrent drought experienced in the region. This may help agronomists and planners in better management of water resources, particularly for the agricultural sector.