ABSTRACT
Drought is a part of Earth’s climate, which occurs every year without warning, recognizing borders and political and economic differences. Drought has wide-ranging impacts on water resources, ecosystems, energy, agriculture, forestry, human health, recreation, transportation, food supply and demands, and other resources and activities. Drought affects the largest number of people on Earth and is a very costly disaster. In the United States, a country of high technology, drought is considered a “14 billion dollar” annual event in terms of incurred losses (NCDC 2013). In the developing world, drought leads to food shortages, famine, population displacement, and death of people. Since drought is a very complex and the least understood phenomenon, drought prediction, what would be an effective way to fight with drought consequences, is a very challenging task. Therefore, an early detection and monitoring is currently an important way to deal with drought in assessing its impact and developing mitigation measures.
