Advances in Digital Agriculture and Remote Sensing for Drought Monitoring and Early Warning Systems: A Comprehensive Review
Bhanavathu Prathyusha *
Department of Rural Development, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Drought is among the most pervasive and economically devastating natural disasters affecting agricultural productivity, food security, and ecosystem stability worldwide. The convergence of digital agriculture and remote sensing technologies has fundamentally transformed the capacity of scientists, policymakers, and land managers to detect, monitor, and respond to drought events with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. This review synthesises the current state of knowledge on the application of remote sensing platforms—including optical, thermal, microwave, and gravimetric systems—alongside digital agriculture tools such as geographic information systems (GIS), the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, and decision support systems, for drought monitoring and early warning. The literature for this review was identified through systematic searches of the following academic databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The search strategy employed a combination of Boolean operators and controlled vocabulary terms. Key remote sensing indicators discussed include vegetation indices, soil moisture products, evapotranspiration estimates, and land surface temperature anomalies, all of which contribute to multi-parameter drought assessment frameworks. The review further examines major global and regional drought early warning systems and evaluates their operational integration of satellite-derived data. Despite considerable advances, persistent challenges remain, including data gaps in developing regions, inconsistencies between sensor platforms, limited ground-truth infrastructure, and the need for locally calibrated thresholds. Future directions point towards the integration of artificial intelligence with multi-source satellite data streams and the democratisation of drought monitoring through open-access platforms. This review provides a holistic synthesis of technological advances and identifies priorities for research, operational implementation, and policy frameworks to strengthen drought resilience in a changing climate.
Keywords: Drought monitoring, remote sensing, digital agriculture, vegetation indices, soil moisture, precision agriculture, food security, climate change