Abstract
This article presents the results of a study of the relationship between rainfall and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in East Africa and the Sahel. Monthly data for the years 1982 to 1985 have been analyzed. We have evaluated NDVI-rainfall relationships by vegetation type, using the major formations described by White (1983). In the article, a comparison of the differential response of vegetation growth to rainfall in the two study regions is emphasized. The most important conclusions of our research are as follows: Two possible explanations of this last conclusion are suggested: above this threshold, rainfall is no longer the limiting factor in vegetation growth and/or NDVI is not a good indicator of vegetation growth. The latter is a likely possibility since NDVI directly reflects photosynthetic activity and becomes a poor indicator of biomass (i.e., growth) as high canopy densities are reached. The NDVI-rainfall relationship for East Africa is markedly similar to the relationship between NDVI and Leaf Area Index demonstrated by Sellers (1985) and Asrar et al. (1984).
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