RECENT DROUGHTS AND THE IMPACT ON LAND USE AND LAND COVER IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA: A SPATIOTEMPORAL ANALYSIS BASED ON THE VEGETATION TEMPERATURE CONDITION INDEX

In the Iberian Peninsula, precipitation mainly falls during autumn and winter and is marked by large space and time variability. Therefore, the Peninsula has large areas prone to drought. This study aims to analyse spatiotemporal drought patterns in the Iberian Peninsula based on the Vegetation Condition Temperature Index (VTCI) and to investigate the response of land cover types towards droughts during spring and summer seasons from 2001 to 2005 and in 2007 and 2010 (highly dry and wet years). VTCI is a remote sensing drought index and uses information on vegetation activity (Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index - NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). VTCI overcomes problems that may arise when NDVI is solely used for drought monitoring. The inter-annual VTCI course shows a typical Mediterranean pattern that is particularly influenced by the relief. The land cover types most prone to drought are agricultural surfaces, and the most resilient ones are forests.