The Assessment of Meteorological Drought Impact on the Vegetation Health Index

One of the critical consequences of drought is the reduction of water resources and reduction of agricultural production. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the relationship between meteorological drought and vegetation. To investigate this relationship, meteorological data from 28 rain gauge and remote sensing stations located in Lorestan Province and its neighboring regions were used in this study. First, the standardized precipitation index (SPI) was calculated between 1987 and 2017 using meteorological data, and then, the vegetation health index (VHI) was calculated using satellite images for the same years. The correlation between SPI and VHI was computed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The results showed that the highest Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.77, belonging to the SPIs for October and November with 9- and 12-month time periods. Multivariate linear regression was also performed between the SPI and vegetation health index (VHI), and the results showed that SPI was significantly correlated with VHI at a 5% level over 9- and 12-month periods. Finally, a confusion matrix was used to evaluate the compatibility of the SPI and VHI drought classes. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.