Deep Learning for Flash Drought Detection: A Case Study in Northeastern Brazil

Flash droughts (FDs) pose significant challenges for accurate detection due to their short duration. Conventional drought monitoring methods have difficultly capturing this rapidly intensifying phenomenon accurately. Machine learning models are increasingly useful for detecting droughts after training the models with data. Northeastern Brazil (NEB) has been a hot spot for FD events with significant ecological damage in recent years. This research introduces a novel 2D convolutional neural network (CNN) designed to identify spatial FDs in historical simulations based on multiple environmental factors and thresholds as inputs. Our model, trained with hydro-climatic data, provides a probabilistic drought detection map across northeastern Brazil (NEB) in 2012 as its output. Additionally, we examine future changes in FDs using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) driven by outputs from Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) under the SSP5-8.5 scenario of 2024–2050. Our results demonstrate that the proposed spatial FD-detecting model based on 2D CNN architecture and the methodology for robust learning show promise for regional comprehensive FD monitoring. Finally, considerable spatial variability of FDs across NEB was observed during 2012 and 2024–2050, which was particularly evident in the São Francisco River Basin. This research significantly contributes to advancing our understanding of flash droughts, offering critical insights for informed water resource management and bolstering resilience against the impacts of flash droughts.