Regional Environmental Monitoring

Rapid Monitoring and Assessment of Drought in Papua New Guinea using Satellite Imagery

Remotely sensed data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor was used to rapidly monitor and assess the 1997 drought experienced in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Data was purchased for a normal year (1996), the drought (1997) and for the year of recovery (1998). To overcome the problem of high amounts of cloud coverage experienced in the tropics, 4-week and 8-week composite data were used. The processing pathway developed in this project, which has been transferred to local scientists, is fully documented in this report. The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and surface temperature (Ts) were both used. To utilise the negative correlation exhibited between these two variables the ratio of Ts/NDVI was plotted as a time series and mapped as time difference images. This provided a rapid indicator of drought, which does not require ancillary meteorological data. The onset of the drought was identified by the imagery well before there was local awareness.

Read More: Bierwirth, P.N., and McVicar, T.R., 2006. Rapid Monitoring and Assessment of Drought in Papua New Guinea using Satellite Imagery. Final Report to United Nations Development Program, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

SEE OTHER REGIONAL MONITORING RELATED CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE CONSULTANT:

Bierwirth, P.N., (2004) Translating the National Landuse Mapping (NLUM) method from NOAA-AVHRR to Modis satellite data – issues and potential improvements. BRS Consultant Report to MDBC, 21 p

McVicar, T.R, and Bierwirth, P.N., (2001) Rapidly assessing the 1997 drought in Papua New Guinea using composite AVHRR imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing 22(11), pp 2109 – 2128.