The goal of my course project was to characterize vegetation and snow response to drought in a subwatershed of the Powder River Basin, WY using Landsat TM and Landsat OLI swath products. NOAA climate records were used to identify both wet and dry dates. Spatial image analysis was conducted on images from the wet and dry summers in order to derive drought response in vegetation, land surface temperature and snow cover area. Land surface temperatures were ground confirmed using data from SNOTEL snow monitoring sites. These variables were used to create a simplified drought index (TVX). The images were then classified using multispectral bands and land surface temperature. Results from this research show that Landsat recorded vegetation response to climate change does not correlate to the drought monitor estimates from the NOAA climate records.
This study can be used to identify areas most at risk of water stress during drought years and prioritize resiliency interventions for water resource managers. I plan to continue with this research as a major part of my Master’s Thesis.