Gridded drought indices based on remote sensing data for Europe (2000-2015)

Three gridded drought indicators based on remote sensing were calculated for Europe. The data has a spatial resolution of 0.05 degree and a temporal resolution of 1 month for the period going from 2000 to 2015. The three drought indicators are (i) the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) based on satellite product NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) (ii) the Temperature Condition Index based on remotely sensed LST (Land Surface Temperature) and (iii) the Vegetation Health Index (VHI) which is a combination of VCI and TCI. For NDVI, MODIS product MOD13C2 was used, and for LST, MODIS product MOD11C3 was used. VCI, TCI and VHI were derived using methodology described by Kogan (Kogan, F.N., 1995; https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-1177(95)00079-T)