Spatial distribution of drought levels in Bantimurung District, Maros Regency, South Sulawesi Province

¹ Department of Geography, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, University of Indonesia, Depok 1624
² Department of Geography, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, University of Indonesia, Depok 1624

^* Corresponding author: eko.kusratmoko@sci.ui.ac.id

Abstract

Drought is an event that almost occurs every year in several regions of Indonesia. Drought events are often associated with the El Nino phenomenon, namely the lack of rainfall over a certain period of time in a reasonably long time. In 2015, Indonesia experienced drought in several parts of Indonesia, one of which was Bantimurung District in Maros Regency, South Sulawesi Province. This study aimed to map the level of drought in Bantimurung District. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) based meteorological and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used to determine the spatial-temporal distribution of drought. Then, the NDVI values of weak (2014) and very strong (2015) El Nino year were correlated with SPI. The results show that Bantimurung District experienced drought in 2015 with near normal (July-September) to moderately dry (October-November) drought levels. In 2014, the drought was not so severe compared to 2015 because the level of drought was near normal and moderately wet. In 2014, the moderately wet area was located in the east district including Leang-leang and Kalabbirang villages. In 2015, villages Minasa Baji, Mattoangin, Alangtae, Baruga, Tukamasea, Mangeloreng, west of Kalabbirang and Leang Leang were located in western of the district have moderately dry drought level.