One of the most serious climate-related challenges facing Bangladesh is drought, which increases existing susceptibility from human pressures, rising sea levels, and saline intrusion in the Khulna District of the southwestern coastal area. Although drought has been constant in Bangladesh, its effects have been increasingly noticeable to the residents of Khulna in recent years.In addition to unpredictable rainfall and increasing temperatures, the Khulna district in Bangladesh's southwest coastal region also has to deal with saline intrusion from tidal rivers. In order to map and characterize drought behaviors in Khulna, this work offers a thorough 30-year remote sensing expedition (1994–2024) that integrates many satellite-derived indices and meteorological factors. This study uses an integrated suite of drought indicators, including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Vegetation Health Index (VHI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), using the MODIS satellite platform, CHIRPS precipitation data, images from Landsat 8 and Landsat 5, ERA5 reanalysis, and ground-based meteorological observations. The findings show a contrary pattern:while vegetation production has somewhat increased over the past three decades (NDVI increased from 0.180 in 1994 to 0.221 in 2024), drought danger areas have become more intense and have spread geographically. A multi-temporal mapping of drought hazards from 2000 to 2024 shows that climate change, increasing temperature-induced evapotranspiration, and moisture deficit buildup are the main causes of the drought's increased severity. Except for 2003, 2013, 2019, and 2020, seasonal vegetation condition indicators show increased stress over the winter. Long-term moisture shortage conditions are indicated by soil moisture anomalies obtained from PDSI mapping, especially in areas where soil salinity affects around 37% of coastal cropland. In addition to showing the important advantages of multi-parameter satellite monitoring for locating drought areas, forecasting agricultural stress, and assisting evidence-based water resource management in circumstances with limited data, this integrated remote sensing approach offers solid proof of changing drought patterns in this climate-vulnerable area. Policymakers and local organizations may use these results to prioritize water management over agriculture and assist farmers in developing agricultural strategies that are climate resilient. In the end, the drought in Khulna is a lived experience for millions of people rather than a theoretical idea found in climate data.
Aditya Dev (Mon,) studied this question.