A Study on Surface Validation of the Satellite-derived Vegetation Growing Season in China—A Case of the Temperate Steppe Area and the Warm Temperate Deciduous Broad-leaved Forest Area

Abstract

Satellite-derived beginning and end dates of growing season at 7 sites of the temperate steppe area and 5 sites of the warm temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest area in China were determined with the measures of seasonal midpoint NDVI(SMN),inflection point by Moulin(MOULIN) and by Zhang(LOGISTIC),and moving average(MA) using NOAA/AVHRR NDVI time series data from 1982 to 2000.The four measures were matched to surface observations and then their stabilities,accuracies,and validities were studied via compare of absolute error distributions,standard deviations,mean absolute errors,and correlation coefficients and so on.The results show that LOGISTIC is the most appropriate of the four measures in determining beginning date of growing season in both the steppe area and the forest area.As to satellite-derived end date of growing season in the steppe area,SMN performs best,followed by LOGISTIC with the senescence point defined as end date.In the forest area,of the four satellite-derived end date of growing season measures,LOGISTIC with the dormancy point defined as end date,is the most preponderant one.This paper provided a typical case and method to surface validation of the satellite-derived vegetation growing season and selection of various measures.