Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Research Articles

AVHRR NDVI Compositing Method Comparison and Generation of Multi-Decadal Time Series—A TIMELINE Thematic Processor

Remote sensing image composites are crucial for a wide range of remote sensing applications, such as multi-decadal time series analysis. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument has provided daily data since the early 1980s at a spatial resolution of 1 km, allowing analyses of climate change-related environmental processes. For monitoring vegetation conditions, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most widely used metric. However, to actually enable such analyses, a consistent NDVI time series over the AVHRR time-span needs to be created. In this context, the aim of this study is to thoroughly assess the effect of different compositing procedures on AVHRR NDVI composites, as no standard procedure has been established. Thirteen different compositing methods have been implemented; daily, decadal, and monthly composites over Europe and Northern Africa have been calculated for the year 2007, and the resulting data sets have been thoroughly evaluated according to six criteria. The median approach was selected as the best-performing compositing algorithm considering all the investigated aspects. However, the combination of the NDVI value and viewing and illumination angles as the criteria for the best-pixel selection proved to be a promising approach, too. The generated NDVI time series, currently ranging from 1981–2018, shows a consistent behavior and close agreement to the standard MODIS NDVI product. The conducted analyses demonstrate the strong influence of compositing procedures on the resulting AVHRR NDVI composites.

Satellite-Derived Estimation of Grassland Aboveground Biomass in the Three-River Headwaters Region of China during 1982–2018

The long-term estimation of grassland aboveground biomass (AGB) is important for grassland resource management in the Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR) of China. Due to the lack of reliable grassland AGB datasets since the 1980s, the long-term spatiotemporal variation in grassland AGB in the TRHR remains unclear. In this study, we estimated AGB in the grassland of 209,897 km2 using advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR), MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), meteorological, ancillary data during 1982–2018, and 75 AGB ground observations in the growth period of 2009 in the TRHR. To enhance the spatial representativeness of ground observations, we firstly upscaled the grassland AGB using a gradient boosting regression tree (GBRT) model from ground observations to a 1 km spatial resolution via MODIS normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), meteorological and ancillary data, and the model produced validation results with a coefficient of determination (R2) equal to 0.76, a relative mean square error (RMSE) equal to 88.8 g C m−2, and a bias equal to −1.6 g C m−2 between the ground-observed and MODIS-derived upscaled AGB. Then, we upscaled grassland AGB using the same model from a 1 km to 5 km spatial resolution via AVHRR NDVI and the same data as previously mentioned with the validation accuracy (R2 = 0.74, RMSE = 57.8 g C m−2, and bias = −0.1 g C m−2) between the MODIS-derived reference and AVHRR-derived upscaled AGB. The annual trend of grassland AGB in the TRHR increased by 0.37 g C m−2 (p < 0.05) on average per year during 1982–2018, which was mainly caused by vegetation greening and increased precipitation. This study provided reliable long-term (1982–2018) grassland AGB datasets to monitor the spatiotemporal variation in grassland AGB in the TRHR.

An Improved DDV Algorithm for the Retrieval of Aerosol Optical Depth From NOAA/AVHRR Data

Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) is one of the important parameters to characterize the physical properties of the atmospheric aerosol, which is used to describe the extinction characteristics of the aerosol, and also to calculate the aerosol content, to assess the degree of air pollution and to study aerosol climate effect. To study the historical change of aerosol in long-time series, the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) data earliest used for aerosol research was used in this study. Due to the lack of shortwave infrared (SWIR) (center at 2.13 µm) of the sensor, the relationship between the blue and red bands with SWIR cannot be provided, and the visible band used to calculate the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) contains the wavelength range of red and green, it is very difficult to calculate the accurate land surface reflectance (LSR). Therefore, based on the Dense Dark Vegetation algorithm (DDV), we propose to introduce mature MODIS vegetation index products (MYD13) to correct AVHRR NDVI, to support the estimation of AVHRR LSR, determine the relationship between corrected AVHRR NDVI and visible band LSR, and to carry out aerosol retrieval. The results show that about 63% of the data are within the error line, and there is a consistent distribution trend in the inter-comparison validation with MODIS aerosol products (MYD04).

Trends of land surface phenology derived from passive microwave and optical remote sensing systems and associated drivers across the dry tropics 1992–2012

Changes in vegetation phenology are among the most sensitive biological responses to global change. While land surface phenological changes in the Northern Hemisphere have been extensively studied from the widely used long-term AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data, current knowledge on land surface phenological trends and the associated drivers remains uncertain for the tropics. This uncertainty is partly due to the well-known challenges of applying satellite-derived vegetation indices from the optical domain in areas prone to frequent cloud cover. The long-term vegetation optical depth (VOD) product from satellite passive microwaves features less sensitivity to atmospheric perturbations and measures different vegetation traits and functioning as compared to optical sensors. VOD thereby provides an independent and complementary data source for studying land surface phenology and here we performed a combined analysis of the VOD and AVHRR NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) datasets for the dry tropics (25°N to 25°S) during 1992–2012. We find a general delay in the VOD derived start of season (SOS) and end of season (EOS) as compared to NDVI derived metrics, however with clear differences among land cover and continents. Pixels characterized by significant phenological trends (P < 0.05) account for up to 20% of the study area for each phenological metric of NDVI and VOD, with large spatial difference between the two sensor systems. About 50% of the pixels studied show significant phenological changes in either VOD or NDVI metrics. Drivers of phenological changes were assessed for pixels of high agreement between VOD and NDVI phenological metrics (serving as a means of reducing noise-related uncertainty). We find rainfall variability and woody vegetation change to be the main forcing variables of phenological trends for most of the dry tropical biomes, while fire events and land cover change are recognized as second-order drivers. Taken together, our study provides new insights on land surface phenological changes and the associated drivers in the dry tropics, as based on the complementary long-term data sources of VOD and NDVI, sensitive to changes in vegetation water content and greenness, respectively.

Mapping the agricultural drought based on the long-term AVHRR NDVI and North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) in the United States, 1981–2013

To provide a long-term perspective of drought variability from 1981 to present, we develop a new monthly agriculturally-based drought index called the Integrated Scaled Drought Index (ISDI). This index integrates Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data (available from 1981 to present), land surface temperature (LST), precipitation (PCP), and soil moisture (SM) data from North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) project (available from 1979 to present). This new agriculturally-based drought index incorporates important components controlling agricultural drought, particularly soil moisture, for which there are limited in-situ observations through time and across space. The optimum weights for each component of the ISDI are determined by correlation analysis with commonly used in-situ drought indices, such as the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), the Palmer Modified Drought Index (PMDI), the Palmer's Z-index, and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at different time scales. Resulting ISDI maps are also visually compared with United States Drought Monitor (USDM) and Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) maps for empirical validation. ISDI shows strong agreement with these two national-wide drought monitoring systems. ISDI also shows strong linear correlations with corn yield anomalies in July and with soybean yield anomalies in August and strong spatial correspondence with county-level corn/soybean yield anomalies during major drought events. These results illustrate the robustness and usefulness of ISDI. This agriculturally-based drought index integrates the benefits of numerical model simulation and remote sensing technology to account for interannual variability of drought for the longest possible time-frame in the satellite era. This long-term monthly drought index provides a longer historical perspective of drought impacts since 1981. It can be generalized to incorporate other satellite data or in-situ observation and has the potential for operational drought monitoring and assessment.

Reconstruction of Long-Term Temporally Continuous NDVI and Surface Reflectance From AVHRR Data

Advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) data provide the longest available time series of global satellite observations and have been extensively used. The Land Long-Term Data Record (LTDR) project has generated daily surface reflectance and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products from AVHRR. However, residual cloud and aerosol contamination in the LTDR AVHRR surface reflectance and NDVI products significantly limits their applications and results in temporal and spatial inconsistencies in subsequent downstream products. Based on the LTDR AVHRR surface reflectance, a temporally continuous vegetation indices-based land-surface reflectance reconstruction (VIRR) method was refined in this study to generate Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) AVHRR NDVI and surface reflectance products from 1982 to 2015. The daily LTDR AVHRR surface reflectance data were first aggregated into eight-day intervals. The aggregated surface reflectance data were used to calculate NDVI, and a robust smoothing algorithm was used to reconstruct continuous and smooth NDVI upper envelopes, which were used to identify cloud-contaminated surface reflectance values. Then the surface reflectance time series was reconstructed from cloud-free surface reflectance values by incorporating the upper envelopes of the NDVI time series as constraints. The results show that the refined VIRR method successfully removes NDVI and surface reflectance values contaminated by clouds and can reconstruct temporally continuous NDVI and land-surface reflectance time series. Comparison of the GLASS AVHRR NDVI product with the third-generation Global Inventory Monitoring and Modeling System (GIMMS3g) and the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI products indicates that these NDVI products exhibit similar spatial patterns, but the GIMMS3g NDVI values were clearly higher than the GLASS AVHRR and MODIS NDVI values in tropical forest regions and the 50°N−60°N latitude band, particularly in July. Comparisons with the MODIS NDVI values over the BELMANIP (Benchmark Land Multisite Analysis and Intercomparison of Products) sites demonstrate that the GLASS AVHRR NDVI product provides better performance (RMSE = 0.1007 and Bias = 0.0518) than the GIMMS3g NDVI product (RMSE = 0.1288 and Bias = 0.0852). The temporal profiles of all these NDVI products exhibited consistent seasonal variations, but the temporal smoothness of the GLASS AVHRR NDVI product was superior to that of the GIMMS3g and MODIS NDVI products. The GLASS AVHRR and GIMMS3g NDVI products show consistent trends in most situations, but the trends of the GLASS AVHRR NDVI product were slightly more pronounced than those of the GIMMS3g NDVI product for each biome type. Comparison of the GLASS AVHRR surface reflectance product with MODIS surface reflectance product indicates the GLASS AVHRR and MODIS surface reflectance showed similar seasonal and interannual variations and the GLASS AVHRR surface reflectance was in good agreement with the MODIS surface reflectance, especially in the red band.

A global study of NDVI difference among moderate-resolution satellite sensors

Moderate-resolution sensors, including AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer), MODIS (MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and VIIRS (Visible-Infrared Imager-Radiometer Suite), have provided over forty years of global scientific data. In the form of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), these data greatly benefit environmental studies. However, their usefulness is compromised by sensor differences. This study investigates the global NDVI difference and its spatio-temporal patterns among typical moderate-resolution sensors, as supported by state-of-the-art remote sensing derived products. Our study demonstrates that the atmosphere plays a secondary role to LULC (Land Use/Land Cover) in inter-sensor NDVI differences. With reference to AVHRR/3, AVHRR/1 and 2 exhibit negative NDVI biases for vegetated land cover types. In summer (July), the area of negative bias shifts northward, and the magnitude increases in the Northern Hemisphere. For most LULC types, the bias generally shifts in the negative direction from winter (January) to summer. A linear regression of the NDVI difference versus NDVI shows a close correlation between the slope value and vegetation phenology. Overall, NDVI differences are controlled by LULC type and vegetation phenology. Our study can be used to generate a long-term, consistent NDVI data set from composite MODIS and AVHRR NDVI data. LULC-dependent and temporally variable correction equations are recommended to reduce inter-sensor NDVI differences.

Bayesian MODIS NDVI back-prediction by intersensor calibration with AVHRR

Abstract This article describes a Bayesian approach for ensuring the continuity of remote sensing records (1982–2014) by back-prediction of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) using historical Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. First, a historical 8 km snow data was generated using MODIS snow Quality Assurance field and North American Regional Reanalysis snow depth and air temperature outputs. Second, the relationships between coarsened 8 km MODIS and AVHRR Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were modeled pixel by pixel using spatial autocorrelation. Then the NDVI was back-predicted to 1982 from historical AVHRR observations and snow data. The back-predicted NDVI was validated against those data held-out from MODIS in 2001 and 2002 from four distinct biogeographic state regions (California, Kansas, Minnesota and Mississippi) in the continental United States. The results show consistency of the derived NDVI from two sensors, with a Root Mean Square Error within 0.05 over most land cover classes. This validation results suggest potential application of this approach for generating consistent long term multi-sensor NDVI data records for ecology and global climate change studies.

Utilizing Multiple Lines of Evidence to Determine Landscape Degradation within Protected Area Landscapes: A Case Study of Chobe National Park, Botswana from 1982 to 2011

The savannas of Southern Africa are an important dryland ecosystem as they cover up to 54% of the landscape and support a rich variety of biodiversity. This paper evaluates landscape change in savanna vegetation along Chobe Riverfront within Chobe National Park Botswana, from 1982 to 2011 to understand what change may be occurring in land cover. Classifying land cover in savanna environments is challenging because the vegetation spectral signatures are similar across distinct vegetation covers. With vegetation species and even structural groups having similar signatures in multispectral imagery difficulties exist in making discrete classifications in such landscapes. To address this issue, a Random Forest classification algorithm was applied to predict land-cover classes. Additionally, time series vegetation indices were used to support the findings of the discrete land cover classification. Results indicate that a landscape level vegetation shift has occurred across the Chobe Riverfront, with results highlighting a shift in land cover towards more woody vegetation. This represents a degradation of vegetation cover within this savanna landscape environment, largely due to an increasing number of elephants and other herbivores utilizing the Riverfront. The forested area along roads at a further distance from the River has also had a loss of percent cover. The continuous analysis during 1982–2011, utilizing monthly AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) values, also verifies this change in amount of vegetation is a continuous and ongoing process in this region. This study provides land use planners and managers with a more reliable, efficient and relatively inexpensive tool for analyzing land-cover change across these highly sensitive regions, and highlights the usefulness of a Random Forest classification in conjunction with time series analysis for monitoring savanna landscapes.

Spatially and temporally continuous LAI datasets based on the mixed pixel decomposition method

The leaf area index (LAI) is a key biophysical parameter that determines the state of plant growth. A global LAI has been routinely produced by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). However, the MODIS and AVHRR LAI products cannot be synchronized with the same spatial and temporal resolution. The LAI features are not discernible when a global LAI product is implemented at the regional scale because it has low resolution and different land cover types. To obtain high spatial and temporal resolution of LAI products, an empirical model based on the pixel scale was developed. The approach to generate a long (multi-decade) time series of a 1-km spatial resolution LAI normally integrates both AVHRR and MODIS datasets for different land cover types. In this paper, a regression-based model for generating a vegetation LAI was developed using the AVHRR Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), MODIS LAI and land cover as input data; the model was evaluated by using relevant data from the same period data from 2000 to 2006. The results of this method show a good consistency in LAI values retrieved from the AVHRR NDVI and MODIS LAI. This simple method has no specific-limited data requirements and can provide improved spatial and temporal resolution in a region without ground data.

NDVI-Based Long-Term Vegetation Dynamics and Its Response to Climatic Change in the Mongolian Plateau

The response of vegetation to regional climate change was quantified between 1982 and 2010 in the Mongolian plateau by integrating the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (1982–2006) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI (2000–2010). Average NDVI values for the growing season (April–October) were extracted from the AVHRR and MODIS NDVI datasets after cross-calibrating and consistency checking the dataset, based on the overlapping period of 2000–2006. Correlations between NDVI and climatic variables (temperature and precipitation) were analyzed to understand the impact of climate change on vegetation dynamics in the plateau. The results indicate that the growing-season NDVI generally exhibited an upward trend with both temperature and precipitation before the mid- or late 1990s. However, a downward trend in the NDVI with significantly decreased precipitation has been observed since the mid- or late 1990s. This is an apparent reversal in the NDVI trend from 1982 to 2010. Pixel-based analysis further indicated that the timing of the NDVI trend reversal varied across different regions and for different vegetation types. We found that approximately 66% of the plateau showed an increasing trend before the reversal year, whereas 60% showed a decreasing trend afterwards. The vegetation decline in the last decade is mostly attributable to the recent tendency towards a hotter and drier climate and the associated widespread drought stress. Monitoring precipitation stress and associated vegetation dynamics will be important for raising the alarm and performing risk assessments for drought disasters and other related natural disasters like sandstorms.

A Non-Stationary 1981–2012 AVHRR NDVI3g Time Series

The NDVI3g time series is an improved 8-km normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data set produced from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instruments that extends from 1981 to the present. The AVHRR instruments have flown or are flying on fourteen polar-orbiting meteorological satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and are currently flying on two European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) polar-orbiting meteorological satellites, MetOp-A and MetOp-B. This long AVHRR record is comprised of data from two different sensors: the AVHRR/2 instrument that spans July 1981 to November 2000 and the AVHRR/3 instrument that continues these measurements from November 2000 to the present. The main difficulty in processing AVHRR NDVI data is to properly deal with limitations of the AVHRR instruments. Complicating among-instrument AVHRR inter-calibration of channels one and two is the dual gain introduced in late 2000 on the AVHRR/3 instruments for both these channels. We have processed NDVI data derived from the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) from 1997 to 2010 to overcome among-instrument AVHRR calibration difficulties. We use Bayesian methods with high quality well-calibrated SeaWiFS NDVI data for deriving AVHRR NDVI calibration parameters. Evaluation of the uncertainties of our resulting NDVI values gives an error of ± 0.005 NDVI units for our 1981 to present data set that is independent of time within our AVHRR NDVI continuum and has resulted in a non-stationary climate data set.

Quantification of Impact of Orbital Drift on Inter-Annual Trends in AVHRR NDVI Data

The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series data derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) have been extensively used for studying inter-annual dynamics of global and regional vegetation. However, there can be significant uncertainties in the data due to incomplete atmospheric correction and orbital drift of the satellites through their active life. Access to location specific quantification of uncertainty is crucial for appropriate evaluation of the trends and anomalies. This paper provides per pixel quantification of orbital drift related spurious trends in Long Term Data Record (LTDR) AVHRR NDVI data product. The magnitude and direction of the spurious trends was estimated by direct comparison with data from MODerate resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Aqua instrument, which has stable inter-annual sun-sensor geometry. The maps show presence of both positive as well as negative spurious trends in the data. After application of the BRDF correction, an overall decrease in positive trends and an increase in number of pixels with negative spurious trends were observed. The mean global spurious inter-annual NDVI trend before and after BRDF correction was 0.0016 and −0.0017 respectively. The research presented in this paper gives valuable insight into the magnitude of orbital drift related trends in the AVHRR NDVI data as well as the degree to which it is being rectified by the MODIS BRDF correction algorithm used by the LTDR processing stream.

Increasing altitudinal gradient of spring vegetation phenology during the last decade on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Spring vegetation phenology in temperate and cold regions is widely expected to advance with increasing temperature, and is often used to indicate regional climatic change. The Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has recently experienced intensive warming, but strongly contradictory evidence exists regarding changes in satellite retrievals of spring vegetation phenology. We investigated spatio-temporal variations in green-up date on the QTP from 2000 to 2011, as determined by five methods employing vegetation indices from each of the four sources: three Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Système Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT), MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from MODIS. Results indicate that, at the regional scale, all vegetation indices and processing methods consistently found no significant temporal trend (all P>0.05). This insignificance resulted from substantial spatial heterogeneity of trends in green-up date, with a notably delay in the southwest region, and widespread advancing trend in the other areas, despite a region-wide temperature increase. These changes doubled the altitudinal gradient of green-up date, from 0.63 days 100m−1 in the early 2000s to 1.30 days 100m−1 in the early 2010s. The delays in the southwest region and at high altitudes were likely caused by the decline in spring precipitation, rather than the increasing spring temperature, suggesting that spring precipitation may be an important regulator of spring phenological response to climatic warming over a considerable area of the QTP. Consequently, a delay in spring vegetation phenology in the QTP may not necessarily indicate spring cooling. Furthermore, the phenological changes retrieved from the widely used AVHRR NDVI differed from those retrieved from SPOT and MODIS NDVIs and MODIS EVI, necessitating the use of multiple datasets when monitoring vegetation dynamics from space.

Topographic Effects on Vegetation Biomass in Semiarid Mixed Grassland under Climate Change Using AVHRR NDVI Data

The topography effects on vegetation biomass under climate change impact have been ignored in prairie regions as it is not as significant as in mountain areas. This paper aims to investigate the topographic effects on vegetation biomass under climate change in semiarid Canadian mixed grass prairie. The study site is Grasslands National Park (GNP) and the study period is from 1985 to 2007. Data used include dry green biomass data sampled from June to July of 2003 to 2005, 10-day Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 1km Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) composites of 1985 to 2007, and Global Digital Elevation Model derived from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER GDEM) data with 90 m resolution. To achieve the objective, the applicability of AVHRR NDVI data being a proxy of vegetation biomass was investigated. Then, the range and standard deviation (SD) of each individual vegetation patch in both valley and upland grasslands were calculated. In addition, the variation trend of valley and upland vegetation was analyzed respectively using the Mann-Kendall (M-K) test and the Sen’s slope. The results indicate that the interannual variation of vegetation biomass at GNP can be fairly well represented by AVHRR 1 km NDVI data. Although some patches in valley grassland have similar NDVI range and SD values as those in upland grassland, the others have much smaller range and SD Short Research Article British Journal of Environment & Climate Change, 4(2): 229-242, 2014 230 values than the highest range (0.154) and SD (0.045) of upland grassland. The M-K test and Sen’s slope analyses indicate that NDVI had an increase trend with a larger slope (0.0005) in upland and a smaller slope (0.0002) in valley grassland. It is concluded that climatic variation has more effects on upland grassland than valley grassland in GNP. Topography effects in prairie regions should not be ignored.

Analysis of trends in fused AVHRR and MODIS NDVI data for 1982–2006: Indication for a CO2 fertilization effect in global vegetation

Recent studies report an increase in vegetation greenness in mid‐to‐high northern latitudes. This increase is observed in leaf‐out data in Europe and North America since the 1950s and in satellite data since the 1980s. Increased vegetation greenness is potentially a factor contributing to a land CO2 sink. Various causes for increased vegetation greenness are suggested, but their relative importance is uncertain. In the present study, the effect of climate and CO2 fertilization on increased vegetation greenness and the land CO2 sink are investigated. The study is organized as follows: (1) A model is used to simulate monthly global normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) fields for 1901–2006. The model is derived from NDVI, precipitation, and temperature data for 1982–1999. The modeled fields, referred to as reconstructed vegetation index (RVI), are tested back in time on phenological data (1950s–1990s) and forward in time on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) data (2001–2006). The RVI represents the response of NDVI to variations in climate. (2) Residuals between RVI and NDVI are analyzed for associations with variations in downwelling solar radiation, nitrogen deposition, satellite‐related artifacts, and CO2 fertilization. CO2 fertilization was the only factor that improved RVI modeling. (3) The effect of climate variations and CO2 fertilization on the land CO2 sink, as manifested in the RVI, is explored with the Carnegie Ames Stanford Assimilation (CASA) model. Climate (temperature and precipitation) and CO2 fertilization each explain approximately 40% of the observed global trend in NDVI for 1982–2006. For 1901–2006, estimated trends in NDVI related to CO2 fertilization are four to five times larger than climate‐related trends. CASA simulations indicate that the CO2 fertilization effect on vegetation greenness contributes about 0.7 Pg C per year to the recent land CO2 sink. This is a conservative estimate and is likely larger. This effect of CO2 fertilization would be a large component of the land carbon sink. In the supporting information the RVI is used as a common standard to fuse MODIS and advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) NDVI data. This fusion compares well with SeaWiFS data.

Estimating above-ground net primary productivity of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem of the Central Great Plains using AVHRR NDVI

Above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) is indicative of an ecosystem's ability to capture solar energy and convert it to organic carbon (or biomass), which may be used by consumers or decomposers, or stored in the form of living and nonliving organic matter. Annual and interannual variation in ANPP is often linked to climate dynamics and anthropogenic influences, such as fertilization, irrigation, above-ground biomass harvest, and so on. The Central Great Plains grasslands occupy over 1.5 million km2 and are a primary resource for livestock production in North America. The tallgrass prairies are the most productive grasslands in this region, and the Flint Hills of North America represent the largest contiguous area of unploughed tallgrass prairie (1.6 million ha). Measurements of ANPP are of critical importance to the proper management and understanding of climatic and anthropogenic influences on tallgrass prairie. Yet, accurate, detailed, and systematic measurements of ANPP over large geographic regions do not exist for this ecosystem. For these reasons, this study was conducted to investigate the use of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to model ANPP of the tallgrass prairie. Many studies have established a positive relationship between the NDVI and ANPP, but the strength of this relationship is influenced by vegetation types and can vary significantly from year to year depending on land use and climatic conditions. The goal of this study was to develop a robust model using the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) biweekly NDVI values to predict tallgrass ANPP. This study was conducted using ANPP measurements from a watershed within the Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS) as the primary study area, with additional measurements from the Rannells Flint Hills Prairie Preserve (RFHPP) and biennial ANPP measurements by Kansas State University (KSU) students from tallgrass areas near Manhattan, Kansas. Data from the primary study site covered the period of 1989–2005. The optimal period for estimating ANPP using AVHRR NDVI composite data sets was found to be late July. The Tallgrass ANPP Model (TAM) explained 54% (coefficient of determination, R 2 = 0.54, p < 0.001) of the year-to-year variation in ANPP. The creation of 1.0 km × 1.0 km resolution ANPP maps for a four-county (∼7000 ha) area for years 1989–2007 showed considerable variation in annual and interannual ANPP spatial patterns, suggesting complex interactions among factors influencing ANPP spatially and temporally.

Comparative analysis of SPOT, Landsat, MODIS, and AVHRR normalized difference vegetation index data on the estimation of leaf area index in a mixed grassland ecosystem

Many grassland studies have depended on or are currently depending on the Landsat series of satellite sensors for monitoring work. However, given the identified gaps in Landsat data, alternatives to Landsat imagery need to be tested in an operational environment. In this study, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values are derived from a Système Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) image and compared to the NDVI values from a Landsat image for LAI estimation in a semi-arid heterogeneous grassland. Results indicate a high agreement between Landsat and SPOT data with R2 over 85% at all buffer levels (100, 250, and 1000 m), and a significant but lower agreement between MODIS and Landsat with R2 around 28% at 250 m buffer level to 37% at 100 m buffer level. Based on in situ measurements of LAI in 22 homogeneous sites, the relationships established between LAI and NDVI show that SPOT and Landsat could predict LAI with acceptable accuracy, but MODIS and AVHRR cannot quantify the spatial variation in LAI measurements. Data fusion or blending techniques that combine the spectral information of high spatial/low temporal resolution data with low spatial/high temporal resolution data may be considered to study semi-arid heterogeneous grasslands.

Seasonal Variation of Surface Temperature–Modulating Factors in the Sonoran Desert in Northwestern Mexico

AbstractThe authors explore a new approach to monitoring of desertification that is based on use of results on the relation between albedo and surface temperature for the Sonoran Desert in northwestern Mexico. The criteria of predominance of radiation by using the threshold value of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were determined. The radiation mechanism for regulating the temperature of the surface and the definition of threshold values for AVHRR and MODIS NDVI have an objective justification for the energy budget, which is based on the dominance of radiation surface temperature regulation in relation to evapotranspiration. Changes in the extent of arid regions with AVHRR NDVI of &lt;0.08 and MODIS NDVI of &lt;0.10 can be considered to be a characteristic in the evolution of desertification in the Sonoran Desert region. This is true because, in a certain year, the time span of the period when radiation factor predominates is important for the desertification process.

The use of NDVI and its Derivatives for Monitoring Lake Victoria’s Water Level and Drought Conditions

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is a measure of vegetation vigour, and lake water levels respond variably to precipitation and its deficiency. For a given lake catchment, NDVI may have the ability to depict localized natural variability in water levels in response to weather patterns. This information may be used to decipher natural from unnatural variations of a given lake’s surface. This study evaluates the potential of using NDVI and its associated derivatives (VCI (vegetation condition index), SVI (standardised vegetation index), AINDVI (annually integrated NDVI), green vegetation function (F g ), and NDVIA (NDVI anomaly)) to depict Lake Victoria’s water levels. Thirty years of monthly mean water levels and a portion of the Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) NDVI datasets were used. Their aggregate data structures and temporal co-variabilities were analysed using GIS/spatial analysis tools. Locally, NDVI was found to be more sensitive to drought (i.e., responded more strongly to reduced precipitation) than to water levels. It showed a good ability to depict water levels one-month in advance, especially in moderate to low precipitation years. SVI and SWL (standardized water levels) used in association with AINDVI and AMWLA (annual mean water levels anomaly) readily identified high precipitation years, which are also when NDVI has a low ability to depict water levels. NDVI also appears to be able to highlight unnatural variations in water levels. We propose an iterative approach for the better use of NDVI, which may be useful in developing an early warning mechanisms for the management of lake Victoria and other Lakes with similar characteristics.