Cloud-powered drought mapping: using satellite-derived indices to track agro-meteorological extremes in Prince Edward Island

Climate change and rainfall variability have increased the frequency and intensity of droughts worldwide. It is therefore important to identify when and where droughts are likely to occur to implement effective drought management strategies. The drought conditions investigated in this research are based on long-term agro-meteorological drought conditions (2000 to 2025) for Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. This study has used satellite-based drought indices from MODIS (VCI, TCI, VHI) and CHIRPS (SPI-3), along with other drought metrics such as SDF and ADF. The analysis was done on a cloud-based GEE platform. The Moving Average Test was applied to determine the trend and seasonality of time-series data. The Mann–Kendall test indicated a significant decreasing trend in annual rainfall (τ = −0.317, p = 0.025), whereas the long-term trend in SPI-3 was not statistically significant (τ = −0.028, p = 0.677). The results revealed that 2001 and 2020 were the two driest years of the period studied, with almost 80–90% of the area under effect, and in 2025, PEI experienced its third major drought. Based on drought frequency, 65.67% of the area is in a very low drought-frequency zone, and 15.81% is in an extreme drought-frequency zone. Locations where both SDF and ADF consistently appeared helped identify drought-prone hotspots. Based on long-term trends in precipitation and SPI, there was a general decline in rainfall and an increase in drought events after 2018. These findings will assist in developing improved drought-preparedness and adaptive agricultural management strategies for PEI.