Drought monitoring based on TRMM data and its reliability validation in Shandong province

In order to give consideration to the high spatial and temporal observation ability of remotely sensed drought monitoring method and the universality of meteorological station based drought monitoring method, this paper constructed TRMM-Z index using 3B43 monthly precipitation data of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and single station based Z index drought monitoring method to study the regional drought. Taking Shandong Province in the winter wheat main production area Huang-huai-hai plain as an example, monthly drought situation was monitored during the period from January 1998 to December 2010 and standardized precipitation index (SPI) calculated from station meteorological data over the same period was taken as validation of TRMM-Z. The results showed that TRMM-Z index could well reflect the occurring and developing process of regional drought and the monitoring results were accorded well with actual situation. The correlation coefficient of the average value of TRMM-Z index with the corresponding station based SPI value was 0.83, with a very significant level. The new method can be wildly used in regional drought monitoring and it has a good applicability and accuracy, which can provide a new approach to monitoring meteorological and agricultural drought.