Investigating the Spatio-Temporal Variation of Soil Moisture and Agricultural Drought towards Supporting Water Resources Management in the Red River Basin of Vietnam

The increasing serious droughts recently might have significant impacts on socioeconomic development in the Red River basin (RRB). This study applied variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model to investigate spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture northeast, northwest, and Delta (RRD) regions RRB part belongs territory Vietnam. dataset simulated for 10 years (2005–2014) was utilized establish anomaly percentage index (SMAPI) assessing intensity agricultural drought. Soil appeared co-vary with precipitation, air temperature, evapotranspiration, various features land cover, topography, type three RRB. SMAPI analysis revealed that more areas northeast experienced severe compared those other regions, especially dry season transitional months. Meanwhile, northwest mainly suffered from mild drought a slightly wet condition during season. Different that, RRD had moderately very conditions throughout year. both forested lands associated were larger than Generally, VIC-based approach offered feasible solution improving monitoring capabilities at regional scale.