Title: A Near-Real Time monitoring system for Drought impact on croplands in Southeast Asia

Abstract

While droughts have intensified in recent years, only a handful of studies have assessed their impacts on croplands in Southeast Asia. Data on droughts and their impacts on croplands are important for policy makers and the scientific community. Here we developed a LEET web-based platform to provide data of the impacts of droughts on agriculture in the Southeast Asia during the crop growing seasons over a 40+ period. The data were generated using the TerraClimate global high-resolution gridded Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) datasets in LEET could using Machine Learning algorithms along with Google Earth Engine. Rainfed crops in Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar were strongly affected by droughts, whereas Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia were more affected by floods. Accordingly, four levels of policy interventions were prioritized by considering the geolocated crop damage levels. The near real-time drought and climate datasets were available to public at regional to national level for better policy interventions in the region.