Drought Vulnerability Assessment Using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study in Part of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

This study used integrated GIS and remote sensing data to forecast the spatiotemporal drought risk regions facing agriculture and meteorology in part of Coimbatore. The Coimbatore region’s drought evaluation was divided into two categories: agricultural drought and meteorological drought. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) were used to measure drought in agriculture. Due to yearly rainfall patterns and the standard precipitation index (SPI), resultant meteorological drought assessment. In addition to the standardized precipitation indicator, which is based on meteorology and is used as a meteorological drought index, For Agriculture drought risk has been assessed using Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS and 7 ETM + temporal images based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Vegetation Condition Index for the years 2000 and 2020. Finally, utilizing NDVI, VCI, seasonal rainfall, and SPI values together with a weighted overlay approach, maps of the spatial–temporal drought risk were created. Land use and land cover changes were also carried out in this study. Comparing the drought changes depending on the patterns of land use and cover between 2000 and 2020. The comparison findings show that terrain modification rapidly, which leads to drought in that region, develops when land is being developed like built-up areas, Industries and other human made activities by deformation of Crop Land, Plantation, Water body, and Forest. As a result, the drought risk can be precisely calculated by integrating a number of parameters shows where the areas are most severely impacted by the drought in 2000 were Sultanpet, Singanallur, Thalakkarai, Sethumadai, Kariyambalayam, Koolarpatti, and Kuniyamuthur. Some regions like Karumathampatti, Sulur, Singanallur, Sultanpet, Kuniyamuthur, Kinathukadavu, Periya Negamam, Pollachi, Anaimalai, Kottur, and Aliyar are affected by drought in the year of 2020. Overall, the Coimbatore region’s land use and land cover patterns have changed, which has increased the region’s vulnerability to drought from 2000 to 2020.