scholarly journals Effects of Climate Variability on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the Gojeb River Catchment, Omo-Gibe Basin, Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Melku Dagnachew ◽  
Asfaw Kebede ◽  
Awdenegest Moges ◽  
Adane Abebe

Vegetation dynamics have been visibly influenced by climate variability. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been the most commonly used index in vegetation dynamics. The study was conducted to examine the effects of climatic variability (rainfall) on NDVI for the periods 1982–2015 in the Gojeb River Catchment (GRC), Omo-Gibe Basin, Ethiopia. The spatiotemporal trend in NDVI and rainfall time series was assessed using a Theil–Sen (Sen) slope and Mann–Kendall (MK) statistical significance test at a 95% confidence interval. Moreover, the residual trend analysis (RESTREND) method was used to investigate the effect of rainfall and human induction on vegetation degradation. The Sen’s slope trend analysis and MK significant test indicated that the magnitude of annual NDVI and rainfall showed significant decrement and/or increment in various portions of the GRC. The concurrent decrement and/or increment of annual NDVI and rainfall distributions both spatially and temporarily could be attributed to the significant positive correlation of the monthly (RNDVI-RF = 0.189, P≤0.001) and annual (RNDVI-RF = 0.637, P≤0.001) NDVI with rainfall in almost all portions of the catchment. In the GRC, a strongly negative decrement and strong positive increment of NDVI could be derived by human-induced and rainfall variability, respectively. Accordingly, the significant NDVI decrement in the downstream portion and significant increment in the northern portion of the catchment could be attributed to human-induced vegetation degradation and the variability of rainfall, respectively. The dominance of a decreasing trend in the residuals at the pixel level for the NDVI from 1982, 1984, 2000, 2008 to 2012 indicates vegetation degradation. The strong upward trend in the residuals evident from 1983, 1991, 1998 to 2007 was indicative of vegetation improvements. In the GRC, the residuals may be derived from climatic variations (mainly rainfall) and human activities. The time lag between NDVI and climate factors (rainfall) varied mainly from two to three months. In the study catchment, since vegetation degradations are mainly caused by human induction and rainfall variability, integrated and sustainable landscape management and climate-smart agricultural practices could have paramount importance in reversing the degradation processes.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Measho ◽  
Baozhang Chen ◽  
Yongyut Trisurat ◽  
Petri Pellikka ◽  
Lifeng Guo ◽  
...  

There is a growing concern over change in vegetation dynamics and drought patterns with the increasing climate variability and warming trends in Africa, particularly in the semiarid regions of East Africa. Here, several geospatial techniques and datasets were used to analyze the spatio-temporal vegetation dynamics in response to climate (precipitation and temperature) and drought in Eritrea from 2000 to 2017. A pixel-based trend analysis was performed, and a Pearson correlation coefficient was computed between vegetation indices and climate variables. In addition, vegetation condition index (VCI) and standard precipitation index (SPI) classifications were used to assess drought patterns in the country. The results demonstrated that there was a decreasing NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) slope at both annual and seasonal time scales. In the study area, 57.1% of the pixels showed a decreasing annual NDVI trend, while the significance was higher in South-Western Eritrea. In most of the agro-ecological zones, the shrublands and croplands showed decreasing NDVI trends. About 87.16% of the study area had a positive correlation between growing season NDVI and precipitation (39.34%, p < 0.05). The Gash Barka region of the country showed the strongest and most significant correlations between NDVI and precipitation values. The specific drought assessments based on VCI and SPI summarized that Eritrea had been exposed to recurrent droughts of moderate to extreme conditions during the last 18 years. Based on the correlation analysis and drought patterns, this study confirms that low precipitation was mainly attributed to the slowly declining vegetation trends and increased drought conditions in the semi-arid region. Therefore, immediate action is needed to minimize the negative impact of climate variability and increasing aridity in vegetation and ecosystem services.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1618
Author(s):  
Melakeneh G. Gedefaw ◽  
Hatim M. E. Geli ◽  
Temesgen Alemayehu Abera

Rangelands provide significant socioeconomic and environmental benefits to humans. However, climate variability and anthropogenic drivers can negatively impact rangeland productivity. The main goal of this study was to investigate structural and productivity changes in rangeland ecosystems in New Mexico (NM), in the southwestern United States of America during the 1984–2015 period. This goal was achieved by applying the time series segmented residual trend analysis (TSS-RESTREND) method, using datasets of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies and precipitation from Parameter elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), and developing an assessment framework. The results indicated that about 17.6% and 12.8% of NM experienced a decrease and an increase in productivity, respectively. More than half of the state (55.6%) had insignificant change productivity, 10.8% was classified as indeterminant, and 3.2% was considered as agriculture. A decrease in productivity was observed in 2.2%, 4.5%, and 1.7% of NM’s grassland, shrubland, and ever green forest land cover classes, respectively. Significant decrease in productivity was observed in the northeastern and southeastern quadrants of NM while significant increase was observed in northwestern, southwestern, and a small portion of the southeastern quadrants. The timing of detected breakpoints coincided with some of NM’s drought events as indicated by the self-calibrated Palmar Drought Severity Index as their number increased since 2000s following a similar increase in drought severity. Some breakpoints were concurrent with some fire events. The combination of these two types of disturbances can partly explain the emergence of breakpoints with degradation in productivity. Using the breakpoint assessment framework developed in this study, the observed degradation based on the TSS-RESTREND showed only 55% agreement with the Rangeland Productivity Monitoring Service (RPMS) data. There was an agreement between the TSS-RESTREND and RPMS on the occurrence of significant degradation in productivity over the grasslands and shrublands within the Arizona/NM Tablelands and in the Chihuahua Desert ecoregions, respectively. This assessment of NM’s vegetation productivity is critical to support the decision-making process for rangeland management; address challenges related to the sustainability of forage supply and livestock production; conserve the biodiversity of rangelands ecosystems; and increase their resilience. Future analysis should consider the effects of rising temperatures and drought on rangeland degradation and productivity.


Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 3676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Chen ◽  
Xiangnan Liu ◽  
Chao Ding ◽  
Fang Huang

Land degradation is a widespread environmental issue and an important factor in limiting sustainability. In this study, we aimed to improve the accuracy of monitoring human-induced land degradation by using phenological signal detection and residual trend analysis (RESTREND). We proposed an improved model for assessing land degradation named phenology-based RESTREND (P-RESTREND). This method quantifies the influence of precipitation on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) variation by using the bivariate linear regression between NDVI and precipitation in pre-growing season and growing season. The performances of RESTREND and P-RESTREND for discriminating land degradation caused by climate and human activities were compared based on vegetation-precipitation relationship. The test area is in Western Songnen Plain, Northeast China. It is a typical region with a large area of degraded drylands. The MODIS 8-day composite reflectance product and daily precipitation data during 2000–2015 were used. Our results showed that P-RESTREND was more effective in distinguishing different drivers of land degradation than the RESTREND. Degraded areas in the Songnen grasslands can be effectively detected by P-RESTREND. Therefore, this modified model can be regarded as a practical method for assessing human-induced land degradation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linghui Guo ◽  
Liyuan Zuo ◽  
Jiangbo Gao ◽  
Yuan Jiang ◽  
Yongling Zhang ◽  
...  

An understanding of the response of interannual vegetation variations to climate change is critical for the future projection of ecosystem processes and developing effective coping strategies. In this study, the spatial pattern of interannual variability in the growing season normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for different biomes and its relationships with climate variables were investigated in Inner Mongolia during 1982–2015 by jointly using linear regression, geographical detector, and geographically weighted regression methodologies. The result showed that the greatest variability of the growing season NDVI occurred in typical steppe and desert steppe, with forest and desert most stable. The interannual variability of NDVI differed monthly among biomes, showing a time gradient of the largest variation from northeast to southwest. NDVI interannual variability was significantly related to that of the corresponding temperature and precipitation for each biome, characterized by an obvious spatial heterogeneity and time lag effect marked in the later period of the growing season. Additionally, the large slope of NDVI variation to temperature for desert implied that desert tended to amplify temperature variations, whereas other biomes displayed a capacity to buffer climate fluctuations. These findings highlight the relationships between vegetation variability and climate variability, which could be used to support the adaptive management of vegetation resources in the context of climate change.


Fire ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Níckolas Santana

Fire is one of the main modeling agents of savanna ecosystems, affecting their distribution, physiognomy and species diversity. Changes in the natural fire regime on savannas cause disturbances in the structural characteristics of vegetation. Theses disturbances can be effectively monitored by time series of remote sensing data in different terrestrial ecosystems such as savannas. This study used trend analysis in NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)–MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) time series to evaluate the influence of different fire recurrences on vegetation phenology of the Brazilian savanna in the period from 2001 to 2016. The trend analysis indicated several factors responsible for changes in vegetation: (a) The absence of fire in savanna phytophysiognomies causes a constant increase in MODIS–NDVI, ranging from 0.001 to 0.002 per year, the moderate presence of fire in these areas does not cause significant changes, while the high recurrence results in decreases of MODIS–NDVI, ranging from −0.002 to −0.008 per year; (b) Forest areas showed a high decrease in NDVI, reaching up to −0.009 MODIS–NDVI per year, but not related to fire recurrence, indicating the high degradation of these phytophysiognomies; (c) Changes in vegetation are highly connected to the protection status of the area, such as areas of integral protection or sustainable use, and consequently their conservation status. Areas with greater vegetation conservation had more than 70% of positive changes in pixels with significant tendencies. Absence or presence of fire are the main agents of vegetation change in areas with lower anthropic influence. These results reinforce the need for a suitable fire management policy for the different types of Cerrado phytophysiognomies, in addition to highlighting the efficiency of remote sensing time series for evaluation of vegetation phenology.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nana Luo ◽  
Dehua Mao ◽  
Bolong Wen ◽  
Xingtu Liu

Drought and vegetation dynamics in the northern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China (NXC), the centre of Asia with arid climate, were assessed using the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Analyses were performed through the use of Sen’s method and Spearman’s correlation to investigate variations in the NDVI and the impacts of drought on vegetation from 1998 to 2015. The severity of droughts in the NXC was assessed by the SPEI, which was revealed to increase over the last 60 years at a rate of 0.017 per decade. This indicates that an alleviating tendency of drought intensity occurred in the NXC. Specifically, the spatial pattern of drought intensity increased gradually from the north-western to south-eastern regions. The average yearly NDVI was 0.28 and increased slightly by 0.001 yr−1 (r = 0.94, p = 3.64) between 1998 and 2015. Additionally, the NDVI showed an obviously spatial heterogeneity, with greater values in the west and small values in the east. Significantly, positive correlations between SPEI and NDVI were observed, while drought exerted a five-year lag effect on vegetation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 4936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Wang ◽  
Qing Gu ◽  
Guihua Liu ◽  
Jingwei Shen ◽  
Xuguang Tang

As an internationally important wintering region for waterfowls on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, the national reserve of China’s East Dongting Lake wetland is abundant in animal and plant resources during winter. The hydrological regimes, as well as vegetation dynamics, in the wetland have experienced substantial changes due to global climate change and anthropogenic disturbances, such as the construction of hydroelectric dams. However, few studies have investigated how the wetland vegetation has changed over time, particularly during the wintering season, and how this has directly affected habitat suitability for migratory waterfowl. Thus, it is necessary to monitor the spatio-temporal dynamics of vegetation in the protected wetland and explore the potential factors that alter it. In this study, the data set of time-series Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from 2000 to 2018 was used to analyze the seasonal dynamics and interannual trends of vegetation over the wintering period from October to January. The results showed that the average NDVI exhibited an overall increasing trend, with the trend rising slowly in recent years. The largest monthly mean NDVI generally occurred in November, which is pertinent to the quantity of wintering waterfowl in the East Dongting Lake wetland. Meanwhile, the mean NDVI in the wintering season is significantly correlated to temperature and water area, with apparent lagging effects. Long-term stability analysis presented a gradually decreasing pattern from the central body of water to the surrounding area. All analyses will help the government to make appropriate management strategies to protect the habitat of wintering waterfowl in the wetland.


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