Drought is a major global climate change that causes decreased precipitation and increased temperatures and evaporation, leading to water shortages, agricultural decline, and population migration. Yemen's territory is located within arid and semi-arid regions, and is characterized by its diverse terrain, including coastal, mountainous, eastern plateau, and desert areas. Therefore, research studying the phenomenon of drought is of great importance. In this study, drought was evaluated through a set of indicators, such as the Vegetation Condition Index, Normalize difference vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Drought Severity Index, to evaluate drought in the Yemeni regions. Using geospatial artificial intelligence and satellite imagery (GeoAI-EO) techniques to more accurately assess spatiotemporal drought, using a wide range of data. Dry months are found to last from October to April, while September is the least frequent month in the mountainous western regions. It was also found that drought is more common in the coastal areas and the eastern plateau than in the mountainous highlands and western slopes. Maps and graphs showed the difference in dry and wet climatic ranges of the drought coefficient and showed the extent of variation between regions and seasons.
Drought is one of the most prominent global climate changes that leads to reduced rainfall, increased temperatures and evaporation rates, causing water shortages, a decline in agriculture and population migration.
The Yemeni lands are located within the arid and semi-arid regions, and are characterized by the diversity of their terrain, including coastal areas, mountains, the eastern plateau, and desert areas. Therefore, research into the phenomenon of drought is of great importance.
In this study, drought was assessed using a set of indices; such as: Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Drought Severity Index, with the aim of assessing drought in Yemeni regions.
GeoAI-EO techniques were used to obtain a more accurate assessment of temporal and spatial drought, using a wide range of data.
The results showed that the dry months extend from October to April, while September is the least dry month in the western mountainous regions.
Drought was also found to be more common in coastal areas and the eastern plateau than in the highlands and western slopes.
The maps and graphs showed the variation in the dry and wet climate ranges of the aridity index, and revealed the extent of variation between regions and seasons.