Agricultural vulnerability to drought in southern Alberta : a quantitative assessment

Agricultural vulnerability is generally referred to as the degree to which agricultural systems are likely to experience harm due to a stress. In this study, an existing analytical method to quantify vulnerability was adopted to assess the magnitude as well as the spatial pattern of agricultural vulnerability to varying drought conditions in Southern Alberta. Based on the farm reported data and remote sensing imagery, two empirical approaches were developed to implement vulnerability assessment in Southern Alberta at the quarter-section and 30 meter by 30 meter pixel levels. Cereal crop yield and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) were specified as the agricultural wellbeing and stress pair in the study. Remote sensing data were used to generate cereal crop yield estimations, which were then implemented in vulnerability quantification. The utility of the remote sensing data source for vulnerability assessment were proved. The spatial pattern of agricultural vulnerability to different severity and duration of drought were mapped.

Authors

• Ren, Xiaomeng
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• Dissertations, Academic
• Droughts -- Alberta
• Crops -- Effect of drought on -- Alberta
• Agriculture -- Remote sensing
• Droughts -- Remote sensing

Identifier

hdl:10133/398

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/398