Abstract Drought has a significant impact on agricultural, ecological, and socioeconomic spheres. Although many drought indices have been proposed until now, the detection of droughts at regional scales still needs to be further studied. The Standardized Vegetation Index (SVI) that represents vegetation growing condition, the Standardized Water Index (SWI) that represents canopy water content, and the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) that quantifies anomalies in the ratio of actual to potential evapotranspiration were calculated based on the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. A new remote sensing-based Vegetation Drought Monitor Synthesized Index (VDSI) was proposed by integrating the SVI, SWI, and ESI in the northeast China. When tested against the in situ Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), VDSI with proper weights of three variables outperformed individual remote sensing drought indices. The county-level yields of the main crops in the study area from 2001 to 2010 were also used to validate the VDSI. The correlation analysis between the yield data and the VDSI data during the crop growing season was performed, and its results showed that VDSI during the crop reproductive growth period was strongly correlated with the variation of crop yield. It was proved that this index is a potential indicator for assessment of the spatial pattern of drought severity in northeast China.

中文翻译：

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基于遥感综合指数的东北区域尺度干旱监测

摘要 干旱对农业、生态和社会经济领域具有重大影响。尽管迄今为止已经提出了许多干旱指数，但区域尺度干旱的检测仍有待进一步研究。代表植被生长条件的标准化植被指数 (SVI)、代表冠层含水量的标准化水指数 (SWI) 和量化实际与潜在蒸散量之比异常的蒸发应力指数 (ESI) 是基于中等分辨率成像光谱仪 (MODIS) 数据。结合SVI、SWI和ESI在东北地区提出了一种基于遥感的植被干旱监测综合指数（VDSI）。当根据原位标准化降水蒸散指数 (SPEI) 进行测试时，具有适当权重的三个变量的 VDSI 优于单个遥感干旱指数。研究区2001-2010年主要农作物的县级产量也用于验证VDSI。对作物生长季产量数据与VDSI数据进行相关性分析，其结果表明作物生殖生长期VDSI与作物产量变化有很强的相关性。实践证明，该指数是评价东北干旱严重程度空间格局的潜在指标。对作物生长季产量数据与VDSI数据进行相关性分析，其结果表明作物生殖生长期VDSI与作物产量变化有很强的相关性。实践证明，该指数是评价东北干旱严重程度空间格局的潜在指标。对作物生长季产量数据与VDSI数据进行相关性分析，其结果表明作物生殖生长期VDSI与作物产量变化有很强的相关性。实践证明，该指数是评价东北干旱严重程度空间格局的潜在指标。