Characterizing the responses of vegetation to climate change in the Tibet Plateau using remote sensing data
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Sch Nat Resources & EnvironmIssue Date
2018-03Keywords
climate changenormalized difference vegetation index
tropical rainfall measuring mission precipitation
land surface temperature
Tibet
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Chunchun An, Jianrong Fan, Yanfen Zhang, Dong Yan, "Characterizing the responses of vegetation to climate change in the Tibet Plateau using remote sensing data," Journal of Applied Remote Sensing 12(1), 016035 (9 March 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.12.016035Rights
© 2018 SPIE.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
It is of great significance to investigate the changes in vegetation and its response to climate change in Tibet due to the sensitivity and vulnerability of the area to climate change. The spatiotemporal pattern of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and its trends between 2001 and 2015 were depicted using NDVI from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS). The responses of vegetation to climatic variables were analyzed through linear regression and correlation analysis with tropical rainfall measuring mission precipitation data and MODIS land surface temperature (LST) data. The results showed that (1) the average annual NDVI gradually decreased from the southeast to the northwest in accordance with the variations in LST and precipitation, (2) the annual NDVI increased from 2001 to 2015 at a rate of 0.3 x 10(-3) per year. The LST exhibited an average annual increase of 0.05 degrees C while precipitation remained relatively stable, (3) the correlation between NDVI and precipitation was positive in the central region, whereas it became negative in the southeast and northeast. The correlation between NDVI and LST was opposite of that between NDVI and precipitation, and (4) the increases in NDVI in the tropical monsoon rain forest and rain forest, subalpine coniferous forest, and alpine meadow vegetation types in the southeast depended more on LST than precipitation. In contrast, the increases in NDVI responded strongly to precipitation in the alpine bush and meadow, alpine grassland, alpine desert, and alpine desert steppe vegetation types in the northwest. (c) 2018 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)ISSN
1931-3195Version
Final published versionSponsors
Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of the Chinese Academy of Science [KFJ-STS-ZDTP-015]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [41661144028]ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1117/1.JRS.12.016035