A Comprehensive Assessment of Agricultural Drought

There are many disasters that are still a threat to the world. Tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes and droughts are well-known among the group. In fact, of all the hazards mentioned, drought is quite unpredictable and devastating. It directly affects the community at large. Droughts exist in almost all countries across the globe. Furthermore, its duration and frequency depend on and vary with different parameters. Surprisingly, droughts do not possess any formal, globally accepted definition which adds to its complexity. Meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socioeconomic droughts are the most common forms of drought discussed in the literature. A mixture of factors including precipitation, temperature and soil moisture, among others, triggers drought. According to the drought survey, researchers have examined drought, looking at the specific application along with geographical constraints, resulting in the formation of several drought indices. Drought indicators play an important role in quantitatively estimating drought intensities by integrating data from one or the other variable. Furthermore, these indices are derived in order to capture most of the characteristics of the specific drought incident. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly review established and emerging drought monitoring methods. In this work, we retrospectively analyzed various methods used to investigate drought, with special attention to agricultural drought.