State-level multidimensional agricultural drought susceptibility and risk assessment for agriculturally prominent areas

Due to the shifting climate, extreme events are being observed more frequently globally. Drought is one of the most common natural hazards that severely impacts communities in terms of economic losses and agricultural production disruption. Considering global trade, drought in an agricultural region affects the food security in other regions because of disrupted supply. Decision-makers often consult susceptibility maps when preparing mitigation plans so that the adverse impacts of a drought event can be reduced. Creating drought susceptibility maps can be demanding, requiring a lot of data (i.e., hydrological and land use), expertise, and thorough assessment to accurately picture a vulnerable region’s condition. The process also relies on complex hydrological and hydrometeorological models. The objective of this investigation is to examine the vulnerability and impact of drought and formulate maps of drought susceptibility, exposure, and risk by considering a multitude of atmospheric, physical and social indicators. Subsequent to this notion, a fuzzy logic algorithm has been devised by assigning a comprehensive array of weights to each parameter derived from an exhaustive literature review and used for a preliminary investigation for the state of Iowa. This state is located in the Corn Belt region, and its primary economic activity is agriculture. Drought susceptibility maps for the state of Iowa have been generated for the period spanning from 2015 to 2021 and validated using the Kappa coefficient. The produced drought susceptibility maps can support drought mitigation plans and decisions for communities in Iowa.