In this paper

the agricultural drought was monitored based on the MODIS data and meteorological data. The agricultural drought index model was established by the standardization vegetation supply water index (SDI)

comprehensive precipitation departure index (MSRI) and soil moisture data measured simultaneously.The SDI is suitable for drought monitoring in high vegetation cover region

and the MSRI is suitable for drought monitoring in tropical climate area. The model accuracy was evaluated by the measured data in May 2011 in Hainan Island. The results show that root mean square(RMSE) of the model is 4.65% and the relative root mean square(RESE

r

) is 19.28%

indicating that the model has higher accuracy and can be used to monitor agricultural drought in Hainan Island. The model was used to monitor agricultural drought in Hainan Island from October in 2004 to January in 2005. Based on the results of agricultural drought monitoring

temporal attribute and spatial distributions of droughts in the study area were briefly discussed. The drought occurrences had some little fluctuations

but with a developing trend.The drought in west and north is more serious than in east and south of the island.As a whole

the drought is more serious in the plain than that in the mountain area of the central section of Hainan during the monitoring period

with an obvious temporal change trend. The drought was aggravated with the elevation and slope decrease.The drought in the plain is more serious than in the slope land and the aspect differentiation of drought is not obvious.