Program Overview

Introduction to the University Program

The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health offers a program titled "Spatiotemporal Drought Assessment by Leveraging Google Earth Engine Platform." This online course introduces participants to the Earth Engine Code Editor platform and the implementation of drought detection and monitoring algorithms using passive and active remote sensing.

Program Details

• The program starts on December 29, 2022, and ends on December 15, 2026.
• The duration of the program is 10 hours.
• The program does not offer a certificate upon completion.

About the Course

Google Earth Engine is a cloud-based geospatial remote sensing processing platform that provides an extensive public data catalogue. The Earth Engine API is available in Python and JavaScript, making it easy to harness the power of Google's cloud for geospatial analysis. This platform allows users to write and execute scripts to share and repeat geospatial analysis and processing workflows.

Course Objectives

The course introduces participants to the Earth Engine Code Editor platform and explores basic programming concepts to process and analyze optical remote sensing datasets for local to global scale drought mapping and monitoring. The course covers:

• Simple Drought Indices (VCI, TCI, PCI, SMCI, etc.)
• Integrated Drought Indices (VHI, NDDI, DSI, PDSI, KBDI, etc.)
• Spatiotemporal Analysis of Drought Indices
• Zonal Statistics and Hotspot Analysis of Drought-affected areas

What You Will Learn

After completing the course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the GEE Code Editor platform
• Explore and develop a range of simple to integrated drought indices using remotely sensed datasets
• Identify drought-affected areas by calculating anomalies and defining standardized drought severity ranges
• Understand drought time series analysis for spatial planning and long-term decision-making processes

Specific Knowledge and Skills Gained

Participants will gain:

• Knowledge of key JavaScript concepts and Earth Engine syntax
• Ability to access Earth observation data from various public data catalogs on a cloud platform
• Implement various surface water detection methods in Earth Engine at the national, regional, and global scale

Target Audience

The program is designed for drought, water, and disaster management professionals and postgraduate students interested in using big data and cloud computing to map and monitor drought.

Course Developers

The course has been developed by:

• Mir Matin, Senior Researcher: Water Resources Management, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health
• Hamid Mehmood, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
• Hammad Gilani, Researcher – Remote Sensing and GIS, International Water Management Institute

Note

The course has been jointly developed by the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific under the project titled "Enhancing the capacity of developing countries in Central Asia on effective use of space applications for drought monitoring and early warning through the Regional Drought Mechanism" funded by the Government of the Russian Federation.

Program Information

• Course Number: INWEH-17
• Classes Start: Available Now
• Classes End: December 15, 2026
• Estimated Effort: 10 hours
• Language: English