Climate- and remote sensing-based tools for drought management application in North and South Korea

Abstract:

North and South Korea have experienced more frequent and extreme droughts since the late 1990s. In recent years, severe droughts in 2000-2001, 2012, and 2015 have led to widespread agricultural and environmental impacts, and resulted in water shortages and large reductions in crop yields. This has been particularly problematic in the agricultural sector of North Korea, which has a high-level of vulnerability due to variations of climate and this, in turn, results in food security issues. This vulnerability is exacerbated by North Korea’s relatively small area of arable land, most of which is not very productive. The objective of this study was to develop a drought management application using climate- and remote sensing-based tools for North and South Korea. These tools are essential for improving drought planning and preparedness in this area. In this study, various drought indicators derived from climate and remote sensing data (SPI, SC-PDSI, SPEI, and VegDRI-Korea) were investigated to monitor the current drought condition and evaluate their ability to characterize agricultural and meteorological drought events and their potential impacts. Results from this study can be used to develop or improve the national-level drought management application for these countries. The goal is to provide improved and more timely information on both the spatial and temporal dimensions of drought conditions and provide a tool to identify both past and present drought events in order to make more informed management decisions and reduce the impacts of current droughts and reduce the risk to future events.