Abstract
The objective of this paper is to characterize the spatiotemporal variations of vegetation phenology along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients in Greenland, and to examine local and regional climatic drivers. Time-series from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were analyzed to obtain various phenological metrics for the period 2001–2015. MODIS-derived land surface temperatures were corrected for the sampling biases caused by cloud cover. Results indicate significant differences between West and East Greenland, in terms of both observed phenology during the study period, as well as the climatic response. The date of the start of season (SOS) was significantly earlier (24 days), length of season longer (25 days), and time-integrated NDVI higher in West Greenland. The sea ice concentration during May was found to have a significant effect on the date of the SOS only in West Greenland, with the strongest linkage detected in mid-western parts of Greenland.
Highlights
Vegetation phenology plays an important role in regulating ecosystem processes across the arctic ecosystems which have experienced the most marked climate change in the past 10–20 years (IPCC 2013)
There is a significant relationship between surface temperatures and vegetation phenology
The sensitivity of the vegetation phenology to the surface temperatures may vary from region to region
Summary
Vegetation phenology plays an important role in regulating ecosystem processes across the arctic ecosystems which have experienced the most marked climate change in the past 10–20 years (IPCC 2013). Where the climate-induced shifts in phenology differ among various species, these changes can potentially result in dire consequences for species interactions (Forrest and Miller-Rushing 2010; Schmidt et al 2016). Understanding the linkages between climatic variables and vegetation phenology lies at the core of making sound predictions about climate-induced changes in the Arctic. Sensed datasets of vegetation indices have been extensively used to investigate vegetation phenology and its changes in the Arctic at various scales (Beck and Goetz 2012; Bhatt et al 2013; Karlsen et al 2014), which have highlighted the influence of both large- and localscale climate (Bhatt et al 2010; Bieniek et al 2015; Young et al 2016)
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