Drought monitoring and warning system of rice paddy field in Asia by MTSAT and GSMaP

Abstract:

This research focuses on a development of satellite-based drought monitoring warning system in Asian Pacific country. Drought condition of cropland is evaluated by using Keeth-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) computed from rainfall measurements with GSMaP product, land surface temperature by MTSAT product and vegetation phenology by MODIS NDVI product at daily basis. The derived information is disseminated as a system for an application of space based technology (SBT) in the implementation of the Core Agriculture Support Program. The benefit of this system are to develop satellite-based drought monitoring and early warning system in Asian counties using freely available data, and to develop capacity of policy makers in those countries to apply the developed system in policy making. A series of training program has been carried out in 2013 and 2014 to officers and researchers of ministry of agriculture and relevant agencies in Greater Mekong Subregion countries including Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. This system is running as fully operational and can be accessed at http://webgms.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/DMEWS/