Drought as a Trigger of Rangeland Degradation and Land Cover Changes in Dryland Ecosystems in New Mexico, USA

The prolonged and severe droughts have been affecting agricultural and rangeland forage productivity and water availability in dryland ecosystems such as those in New Mexico, USA. The objective of this research is to investigate the relationships between drought and indicators of rangeland degradation and land cover changes. The study used remotely sensed NDVI datasets from the Global Inventory Monitoring and Modeling System (GIMMS NDVI3g) based on AVHRR and Landsat (1982-2020), and the self-calibrated Palmer Severity Drought index (sc-PSDI) for the 1982-2020 period. The time and amount of permanent degradation were identified using the Time Series Segmentation and Residual Trend analysis (TSS-RESTREND). Land cover change indicators were evaluated using the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC). The analysis was conducted using Google Earth Engine platform. The sc-PDSI was combined with rangeland degradation and land cover change indicators to assess its ability as a trigger for these drought-related impacts. The expected results will provide estimates of the accumulation period and severity of drought that trigger these impacts. The findings of this analysis can help New Mexico and other areas with similar dryland regions in drought management, mitigation, and adaptation efforts for more sustainable ecosystems.