Characterization of comprehensive drought events associated with the ENSO warm phase through satellite images in the Valle del Cauca Colombia

Abstract

The Synthesized Drought Index in the Valle del Cauca was evaluated, applying Principal Component Analysis to satellite images that described: Land Surface Temperature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Precipitation. The magnitude of drought represented by this index was identified in the first component and validated with the Quarterly Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI – 3), obtained from 78 weather stations, which achieved correlations of between 0.55 and 0.71 during warm ENSO events. Comprehensive drought in the department was characterized by exhibiting areas of non-drought in the southwest, in the center-south a transition phase from wet to extremely dry, the Inter-Andean Valley showed sectors of severe drought, and to the east, extremely dry areas. Additionally, in a pilot municipality in the driest area of the department, a susceptibility model was implemented to detect areas affected by drought, applying the Analytical Hierarchical Process.

Keywords

• Principal Components Analysis (PCA)
• Synthesized Drought Index (SDI)
• Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI)
• Comprehensive Drought
• El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)