Early warning systems development for agricultural drought assessment in Nigeria

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment 2020-12, Vol.192 (12), p.798, Article 798
• Main Authors: Adedeji, Oluwatola, Olusola, Adeyemi, James, Godstime, Shaba, Halilu Ahmad, Orimoloye, Israel Ropo, Singh, Sudhir Kumar, Adelabu, Samuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adequacy; Agricultural drought; Annual rainfall; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Drought; Drought monitoring; Droughts; Early warning systems; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Emergency preparedness; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental risk; Environmental science; Food security; Geographic information systems; Geographical information systems; Hydrologic data; Information systems; Methods; Monitoring systems; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Nigeria; Rain; Rainfall; Rainfall data; Remote monitoring; Remote sensing; Remote sensing techniques; Remote Sensing Technology; Reproducibility of Results; Resolution; Risk; Sensing techniques; Spatial discrimination; Spatial distribution; Spatial resolution; Temporal distribution; Temporal variations; Warning systems
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-020-08730-3

The existing drought monitoring mechanisms in the sub-Saharan Africa region mostly depend on the conventional methods of drought monitoring. These methods have limitations based on timeliness, objectivity, reliability, and adequacy. This study aims to identify the spread and frequency of drought in Nigeria using Remote Sensing/Geographic Information Systems techniques to determine the areas that are at risk of drought events within the country. The study further develops a web-GIS application platform that provides drought early warning signals. Monthly NOAA-AVHRR Pathfinder NDVI images of 1 km by 1 km spatial resolution and MODIS with a spatial resolution of 500 m by 500 m were used in this study together with rainfall data from 25 synoptic stations covering 32 years. The spatio-temporal variation of drought showed that drought occurred at different times of the year in all parts of the country with the highest drought risk in the north-eastern parts. The map view showed that the high drought risk covered 5.98% (55,312 km 2 ) of the country’s landmass, while low drought risk covered 42.4% (391,881 km 2 ) and very low drought risk areas 51.5% (476,578 km 2 ). Results revealed that a strong relationship exists between annual rainfall and season-integrated NDVI ( r 2 = 0.6). Based on the spatio-temporal distribution and frequency of droughts in Nigeria, drought monitoring using remote sensing techniques of VCI and NDVI could play an invaluable role in food security and drought preparedness. The map view from the web-based drought monitoring system, developed in this study, is accessible through localhost.