scholarly journals Inter and intra-annual links between climate, tree growth and NDVI: improving the resolution of drought proxies in conifer forests

Author(s):  
Marín Pompa-García ◽  
J. Julio Camarero ◽  
Michele Colangelo ◽  
Marcos González-Cásares

AbstractThe inter- and intra-annual variability in radial growth reflects responses to climatic variability and water shortage, especially in areas subjected to seasonal drought. However, it is unknown how this variability is related to forest productivity, which can be assessed by measuring changes in canopy greenness and cover through remote sensing products as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). We combine xylogenesis with measurements of inter-annual changes in seasonal wood production (earlywood width, adjusted latewood width) and NDVI to improve the understanding of climate and drought impacts on growth and forest productivity in a Pinus teocote stand located in northern Mexico. Cambial dynamics accelerated in March and a high production of radially enlarging and thickening tracheids were observed from April to October and from June to October, respectively. Tracheid maturation was very active in October when latewood production peaked. Wet conditions in winter-spring and summer-autumn enhanced earlywood and latewood production, respectively. Earlywood and latewood were constrained by long (4–10 months) and short (2–3 months) droughts, respectively. The earlywood production depended on April soil moisture, which agrees with the peak of radially enlarging tracheid production found during that month. Aligning drought proxies at inter- and intra-annual scales by using growth and productivity measures improves our understanding of conifer forest responses to water shortage.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1545
Author(s):  
Josiclêda Domiciano Galvíncio

R E S U M OA Caatinga é um biome que sofre com grande variabilidade climática anual e intraanual. Essa variabilidade climática faz com que o bioma em grande parte do ano sofra com grande estresse hídrico. Estudar as relações existentes entre o conteúdo de água na planta e outras variáveis do ecossistemas, tais como: biomassa e evapotranspiração pode auxiliar e prever impactos da escassez hídrica e seca climatológica sobre a produção de biomassa do bioma Caatinga. Assim, este estudo pretende analisar as relações existentes entre o conteúdo de água na folha com a biomassa e evapotranspiração em área do bioma caatinga localizado em São José do Sabugi, Paraiba, Brasil. Foi utilizado o algoritmo SEBAL-Surface Energy Balance para estimar a evapotranspiração e o foram calculados os índices de vegetação NDVI- Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, SAVI- Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index e o índice de conteúdo de água na folha LWCI- Leaf Water Content Index. Os resultados mostraram uma boa relação existente entre os índices de vegetação e o conteúdo de água na folha, sendo r=0.76 para o SAVI e 0.64 para o NDVI. Para a evapotranspiração a correlação foi de r =0.386. Conclui-se que a quantidade de água na folha está altamente correlacionada com a biomassa.Palavra chave: bioma, sazonalidade, seca, semiárido. A B S T R A C TThe Caatinga is a biome that suffers from high annual and intra-annual climatic variability. This climatic variability makes the biome in great part of the year suffer with high great water stress. To study the relationships between water content in the plant and other ecosystem variables, such as: biomass and evapotranspiration can help and predict impacts of water scarcity and climatological drought on the biomass production of the Caatinga biome. Thus, this study intends to analyze the relationship between water content in the leaf with biomass and evapotranspiration in the area of the caatinga biome located in São José do Sabugi, Paraiba, Brazil. The SEBAL-Surface Energy Balance algorithm was used to estimate the evapotranspiration and NDVI-Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, SAVI-Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index and the water content index in the LWCI- Leaf Water Content Index. were calculated. The results showed a good relationship between vegetation index and leaf water content, with r = 0.76 for SAVI and 0.64 for NDVI. For evapotranspiration the correlation was r = 0.386. It is concluded that the amount of water in the leaf is highly correlated with the biomass.Keywords: biome, seasonality, dry, semiarid


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Belete Berhanu ◽  
Ethiopia Bisrat

Ethiopia is endowed with water and has a high runoff generation area compared to many countries, but the total stored water only goes up to approximately 36BCM. The problem of water shortage in Ethiopia emanates from the seasonality of rainfall and the lack of infrastructure for storage to capture excess runoff during flood seasons. Based on this premise, a method for a syndicate use of topography, land use and vegetation was applied to locate potential surface water storing sites. The steady-state Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) was used to represent the spatial distribution of water flow and water stagnating across the study area and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to detect surface water through multispectral analysis. With this approach, a number of water storing sites were identified in three categories: primary sources (water bodies based), secondary sources (Swampy/wetland based) and tertiary sources (the land based). A sample volume analysis for the 120354 water storing sites in category two, gives a 44.92BCM potential storing capacity with average depth of 4 m that improves the annual storage capacity of the country to 81BCM (8.6 % of annual renewable water sources). Finally, the research confirmed the TWI and NDVI based approach for water storing sites works without huge and complicated earth work; it is cost effective and has the potential of solving complex water resource challenges through spatial representation of water resource systems. Furthermore, the application of remote sensing captures temporal diversity and includes repetitive archives of data, enabling the monitoring of areas, even those that are inaccessible, at regular intervals.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neda Abbasi ◽  
Hamideh Nouri ◽  
Sattar Chavoshi Borujeni ◽  
Pamela Nagler ◽  
Christian Opp ◽  
...  

<p>Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) helps to create a better understanding of water allocation, irrigation scheduling, and crop management especially in arid and semiarid regions where agricultural areas are far more affected by water shortage and drought events. Remote sensing (RS) facilitates estimating the ET in regions where long-term field measurements are missed.  In this study, we compare the performance of free open-access remotely sensed actual ET products at eleven counties of the Zayandehrud basin. The Zayandehrud basin, one of the major watersheds of Iran, suffers from recurrent droughts and long-term impacts of aridity. The RS products used in this study are namely WaPOR (2009-2019), MOD16A2 (2003-2019), SSEBOp (2003-2019). We also merged the two products of SSEBOp and WaPOR and assessed its performance. To prepare the Merged ETa Product (MEP), WaPOR was resampled to the spatial resolution of SSEBOp. Then, the average pixel values of the resampled ETa product and SSEBOp were calculated. To compare ETa estimations over croplands in each county, maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps at annual scale (2003-2019) were prepared using LANDSAT 5, 7, and 8 images. Annual mean ETa estimations were then extracted over croplands by using annual maximum NDVI layers. We compared the RS-based ETa with reported long-term ETa values extracted from the local available literature. Our results showed a consistent underestimation of MOD16A2 in all counties. The MEP and WaPOR outperformed other products in the estimation of ETa in seven. Estimations of WaPOR and SSEBOp agreed in most of the counties. Our analysis displayed that, although MOD16A2 underestimated ETa values, it could together with SSEBOp capture the drought better than that of WaPOR and MEP in the lower reaches of the basin. Further study is needed to evaluate the monthly and seasonal performance of RS-based ETa products.</p>


2014 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 2790-2804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Mberego ◽  
Juliet Gwenzi

AbstractClimatic variability over southern Africa is a well-recognized phenomenon, yet knowledge about the temporal variability of extreme seasons is lacking. This study investigates the intraseasonal progression of extreme seasons over Zimbabwe using precipitation and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data covering the 1981–2005 period. Results show that the greatest deficits/surpluses of precipitation occur during the middle of the rainfall season (January and February), and the temporal distribution of precipitation during extreme dry seasons seems to shift earlier than that of extreme wet seasons. Furthermore, anomalous wet (dry) conditions were observed prior to the development of extreme dry (wet) seasons. Impacts of precipitation variations on vegetation lag by approximately 1–2 months. The semiarid southern region experiences more variability of vegetation cover than do the northern and eastern regions. Three distinct temporal patterns of dry years were noted by considering the maximum NDVI level, the mid-postseason NDVI condition, and nested dry spells. The findings of this study emphasize that climate extremes ought not to be simply understood in terms of total seasonal precipitation, because they may have within them some nested distribution patterns that may have a strong influence on primary production.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. e012-e012
Author(s):  
Eduardo D. Vivar-Vivar ◽  

Aim of study: To determine the response of high-altitudinal forests to seasonal drought. Area of study: Monte Tláloc, Estado de México and Rancho Joyas del Durazno, Municipality of Río Verde, San Luis Potosí, México. Materials and methods: In this study, we evaluate the response to drought and hydroclimate in two young Mexican conifers sampled at high elevation, correlating records of tree-ring growth and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Main results: The results show that Pinus teocote and Abies religiosa are vulnerable to the precipitation regime and warm conditions of winter-spring. The physiological response mechanisms seem to be differentiated between the species, according to the effects of drought stress. The NDVI demonstrated the different temporal responses of the species according to their inherent physiological mechanisms in response to hydroclimatic limitations. This differentiation can be attributed to the spatial variation present in the particular physical and geographic conditions of each area. The dry and warm seasonal climates reveal P. teocote and A. religiosa to be species that are vulnerable to drought conditions. However, further evaluation of the resistance and resilience of these species is necessary, as well as disentanglement of the effects of associated mechanisms that can influence the predicted processes of extinction or migration. Research highlights: Pinus teocote and Abies religiosa are vulnerable to the seasonal drought conditions. These results are of particular importance given the climatic scenarios predicted for elevated ecotones. Tree-ring widths and NDVI improved the response of radial growth to the climate, enhancing our understanding of forest growth dynamics. The response to climatic variability depends on the particular species.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 580
Author(s):  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Janet E. Nichol

The Tharpakar desert region of Pakistan supports a population approaching two million, dependent on rain-fed agriculture as the main livelihood. The almost doubling of population in the last two decades, coupled with low and variable rainfall, makes this one of the world’s most food-insecure regions. This paper examines satellite-based rainfall estimates and biomass data as a means to supplement sparsely distributed rainfall stations and to provide timely estimates of seasonal growth indicators in farmlands. Satellite dekadal and monthly rainfall estimates gave good correlations with ground station data, ranging from R = 0.75 to R = 0.97 over a 19-year period, with tendency for overestimation from the Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission (TRMM) and underestimation from Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) datasets. CHIRPS was selected for further modeling, as overestimation from TRMM implies the risk of under-predicting drought. The use of satellite rainfall products from CHIRPS was also essential for derivation of spatial estimates of phenological variables and rainfall criteria for comparison with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)-based biomass productivity. This is because, in this arid region where drought is common and rainfall unpredictable, determination of phenological thresholds based on vegetation indices proved unreliable. Mapped rainfall distributions across Tharparkar were found to differ substantially from those of maximum biomass (NDVImax), often showing low NDVImax in zones of higher annual rainfall, and vice versa. This mismatch occurs in both wet and dry years. Maps of rainfall intensity suggest that low yields often occur in areas with intense rain causing damage to ripening crops, and that total rainfall in a season is less important than sustained water supply. Correlations between rainfall variables and NDVImax indicate the difficulty of predicting drought early in the growing season in this region of extreme climatic variability. Mapped rainfall and biomass distributions can be used to recommend settlement in areas of more consistent rainfall.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bowen Zhang ◽  
Linli Cui ◽  
Jun Shi ◽  
Peipei Wei

Based on SPOT VEGETATION data and meteorological data, NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and its response to temperature and precipitation in China and its different regions were investigated over the period 1998–2013 by using the maximum value composite and linear regression methods. The results showed that NDVI presented significant increase (0.0046/a) for all of China and all the regions over the last 16 years. Meanwhile, annual mean temperature of China presented a slightly increasing trend, while the annual precipitation showed a slightly decreasing trend over the last 16 years. Nevertheless, there were differences between temperature and precipitation in the subregions of China. The Annual NDVI had better relationships with precipitation (r=0.126) compared to temperature (r=-0.094), and NDVI also had a good correlation with precipitation rather than temperature in different subregions of China. Additionally, human activities also made a difference to the trends of NDVI in some regions. This study is conductive to the effects of climate change on vegetation activity in future research.


Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Alexandra D. Syphard ◽  
Heather Rustigian-Romsos ◽  
Jon E. Keeley

Recent increases in destructive wildfires are driving a need for empirical research documenting factors that contribute to structure loss. Existing studies show that fire risk is complex and varies geographically, and the role of vegetation has been especially difficult to quantify. Here, we evaluated the relative importance of vegetation cover at local (measured through the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and landscape (as measured through the Wildland–Urban Interface) scales in explaining structure loss from 2013 to 2018 in California—statewide and divided across three regions. Generally, the pattern of housing relative to vegetation better explained structure loss than local-scale vegetation amount, but the results varied regionally. This is likely because exposure to fire is a necessary first condition for structure survival, and sensitivity is only relevant once the fire reaches there. The relative importance of other factors such as long-term climatic variability, distance to powerlines, and elevation also varied among regions. These suggest that effective fire risk reduction strategies may need to account for multiple factors at multiple scales. The geographical variability in results also reinforces the notion that “one size does not fit all”. Local-scale empirical research on specific vegetation characteristics relative to structure loss is needed to inform the most effective customized plan.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14
Author(s):  
Wahyu Adi

Pulau Kecil Gelasa merupakan daerah yang belum banyak diteliti. Pemetaan ekosistem di pulau kecil dilakukan dengan bantuan citra Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). Penelitian terdahulu diketahui bahwa ALOS memiliki kemampuan memetakan terumbu karang dan padang lamun di perairan dangkal serta mampu memetakan kerapatan penutupan vegetasi. Metode interpretasi citra menggunakan alogaritma indeks vegetasi pada citra ALOS yaitu NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), serta pendekatan Lyzengga untuk mengkoreksi kolom perairan. Hasil penelitian didapatkan luasan Padang Lamun di perairan dangkal 41,99 Ha, luasan Terumbu Karang 125,57 Ha. Hasil NDVI di daratan/ pulau kecil Gelasa untuk Vegetasi Rapat seluas 47,62 Ha; luasan penutupan Vegetasi Sedang 105,86 Ha; dan penutupan Vegetasi Jarang adalah 34,24 Ha.   Small Island Gelasa rarely studied. Mapping ecosystems on small islands with the image of Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). Previous research has found that ALOS has the ability to map coral reefs and seagrass beds in shallow water, and is able to map vegetation cover density. The method of image interpretation uses the vegetation index algorithm in the ALOS image, NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), and the Lyzengga approach to correct the water column. The results of the study were obtained in the area of Seagrass Padang in the shallow waters of 41.99 ha, the area of coral reefs was 125.57 ha. NDVI results on land / small islands Gelasa for dense vegetation of 47.62 ha; area of Medium Vegetation coverage 105.86 Ha; and the coverage of Rare Vegetation is 34.24 Ha.


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