Temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) for drought monitoring in the Guangdong Province from 2000 to 2019

Drought monitoring is crucial for assessing and mitigating the impacts of water scarcity on various sectors and ecosystems. Although traditional drought monitoring relies on soil moisture data, remote sensing technology has have significantly augmented the capabilities for drought monitoring. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy and applicability of two temperature vegetation drought indices (TVDI), TVDINDVI and TVDIEVI, constructed using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) vegetation indices for drought monitoring. Using Guangdong Province as a case, enhanced versions of these indices, developed through Savitzky–Golay filtering and terrain correction were employed. Additionally, Pearson correlation analysis and F-tests were utilized to determine the suitability of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) in correlation with TVDINDVI and TVDIEVI. The results show that TVDINDVI had more meteorological stations passing both significance test levels (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05) compared to TVDIEVI, and the average Pearson’R correlation coefficient was slightly higher than that of TVDIEVI, indicating that TVDINDVI responded better to drought in Guangdong Province. Our conclusion reveals that drought-prone regions in Guangdong Province are concentrated in the Leizhou Peninsula in southern Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta in central Guangdong. We also analyzed the phenomenon of winter-spring drought in Guangdong Province over the past 20 years. The area coverage of different drought levels was as follows: mild drought accounted for 42% to 64.6%, moderate drought accounted for 6.96% to 27.92%, and severe drought accounted for 0.002% to 1.84%. In 2003, the winter-spring drought in the entire province was the most severe, with a drought coverage rate of up to 84.2%, while in 2009, the drought area coverage was the lowest, at 49.02%. This study offers valuable insights the applicability of TVDI, and presents a viable methodology for drought monitoring in Guangdong Province, underlining its significance to agriculture, environmental conservation, and socio-economic facets in the region.