North Korea Subnational NDVI: Dekadal Vegetation Indices and Anomalies

Sub-national vegetation health indicators for North Korea derived from NASA MODIS satellite imagery and aggregated by the World Food Programme. The data provides 10-day (dekadal) NDVI values, long-term averages, and percentage anomalies for monitoring agricultural conditions. Records are organized by administrative units with standardized Pcode references.

Use Cases

• Monitoring agricultural health by comparing `vim` against `vim_lta`
• Identifying drought conditions using the `viq` anomaly indicator
• Validating regional vegetation trends using the `n_pixels` column for data reliability

Strengths

• Uses NASA MODIS Collection 6.1 (Aqua and Terra) sensors
• Includes Pcode references for standardized geospatial joins
• Provides pixel counts (n_pixels) to indicate data density per unit

Limitations

• Aggregated at the sub-national level, losing granular field-level detail
• Subject to cloud cover interference common in optical satellite imagery

Provenance

Source

World Food Programme (WFP) using NASA MODIS data.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing (MODIS Aqua/Terra) aggregated to administrative boundaries.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Democratic People's Republic of Korea