scholarly journals Greening and Browning Trends across Peru’s Diverse Environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly H. Polk ◽  
Niti B. Mishra ◽  
Kenneth R. Young ◽  
Kumar Mainali

If he were living today, Alexander von Humboldt would be using current technology to evaluate change in the Andes. Inspired by von Humboldt’s scientific legacy and the 2019 celebrations of his influence, we utilize a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)time-series vegetation index to ask questions of landscape change. Specifically, we use an 18-year record of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data as a proxy to evaluate landscape change in Peru, which is well known for its high biological and ecological diversity. Continent-level evaluations of Latin America have shown sites with a positive trend in NDVI, or “greening” and “browning”, a negative trend in NDVI that suggests biophysical or human-caused reductions in vegetation. Our overall hypothesis was that the major biomes in Peru would show similar NDVI change patterns. To test our expectations, we analyzed the NDVI time-series with Thiel-Sen regression and evaluated Peru overall, by protected area status, by biome, and by biome and elevation. Across Peru overall, there was a general greening trend. By protected area status, surprisingly, the majority of greening occurred outside protected areas. The trends were different by biome, but there were hotspots of greening in the Amazon, Andean Highlands, and Drylands where greening dominated. In the Tropical Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forest biome, greening and browning signals were mixed. Greening trends varied across the elevation gradient, switching from greening, to browning, and then back to greening as elevation increased. By biome and elevation, the results were variable. We further explored biome-specific drivers of greening and browning drawing on high-resolution imagery, the literature, and field expertise, much as we imagine von Humboldt might have approached similar questions of landscape dynamism.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Potter ◽  
Olivia Alexander

Understanding trends in vegetation phenology and growing season productivity at a regional scale is important for global change studies, particularly as linkages can be made between climate shifts and the vegetation’s potential to sequester or release carbon into the atmosphere. Trends and geographic patterns of change in vegetation growth and phenology from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data sets were analyzed for the state of Alaska over the period 2000 to 2018. Phenology metrics derived from the MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series at 250 m resolution tracked changes in the total integrated greenness cover (TIN), maximum annual NDVI (MAXN), and start of the season timing (SOST) date over the past two decades. SOST trends showed significantly earlier seasonal vegetation greening (at more than one day per year) across the northeastern Brooks Range Mountains, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim coastal plain, and in the southern coastal areas of Alaska. TIN and MAXN have increased significantly across the western Arctic Coastal Plain and within the perimeters of most large wildfires of the Interior boreal region that burned since the year 2000, whereas TIN and MAXN have decreased notably in watersheds of Bristol Bay and in the Cook Inlet lowlands of southwestern Alaska, in the same regions where earlier-trending SOST was also detected. Mapping results from this MODIS time-series analysis have identified a new database of localized study locations across Alaska where vegetation phenology has recently shifted notably, and where land cover types and ecosystem processes could be changing rapidly.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reyadh Albarakat ◽  
Venkataraman Lakshmi

The Mesopotamian marshes are a group of water bodies located in southern Iraq, in the shape of a triangle, with the cities Amarah, Nasiriyah, and Basra located at its corners. The marshes are appropriate habitats for a variety of birds and most of the commercial fisheries in the region. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) has been derived using observations from various satellite sensors, such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and Landsat over the Mesopotamian marshlands for the 17-year period between 2002 and 2018. We have chosen this time series (2002–2018) to monitor the change in vegetation of the study area since it is considered as a period of rehabilitation for the marshes (following a period when there was little to no water flowing into the marshes). Statistical analyses were performed to monitor the variability of the maximum biomass time (month of June). The results illustrated a strong positive correlation between the NDVI derived from Landsat, MODIS, and AVHRR. The statistical correlations were 0.79, 0.77, and 0.96 between Landsat and AVHRR, MODIS and AVHRR, and Landsat and MODIS, respectively. The linear slope of NDVI (Landsat, MODIS, and AVHRR) for each pixel over the period 2002–2018 displays a long-term trend of green biomass (NDVI) change in the study area, and the slope is slightly negative over most of the area. Slope values (−0.002 to −0.05) denote a slight decrease in the observed vegetation index over 17 years. The green biomass of the marshlands increased by 33.2% of the total area over 17 years. The areas of negative and positive slopes correspond to the same areas in slope map when calculated from Landsat, MODIS, and AVHRR, although they are different in spatial resolution (30 m, 1 km, and 5 km, respectively). The time series of the average NDVI (2002–2018) for three different sensors shows the highest and lowest NDVI values during the same years (for the month of June each year). The highest values were 0.19, 0.22, and 0.22 for Landsat, MODIS, and AVHRR, respectively, in 2006, and the lowest values were 0.09, 0.14, and 0.09 for Landsat, MODIS, and AVHRR, respectively, in 2003.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-93
Author(s):  
Gerald V. Frost ◽  
Uma S. Bhatt ◽  
Matthew J. Macander ◽  
Amy S. Hendricks ◽  
M. Torre Jorgenson

Abstract Alaska’s Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) is among the Arctic’s warmest, most biologically productive regions, but regional decline of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) has been a striking feature of spaceborne Advanced High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) observations since 1982. This contrast with “greening” prevalent elsewhere in the low Arctic raises questions concerning climatic and biophysical drivers of tundra productivity along maritime–continental gradients. We compared NDVI time series from AVHRR, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Landsat for 2000–19 and identified trend drivers with reference to sea ice and climate datasets, ecosystem and disturbance mapping, field measurements of vegetation, and knowledge exchange with YKD elders. All time series showed increasing maximum NDVI; however, whereas MODIS and Landsat trends were very similar, AVHRR-observed trends were weaker and had dissimilar spatial patterns. The AVHRR and MODIS records for time-integrated NDVI were dramatically different; AVHRR indicated weak declines, whereas MODIS indicated strong increases throughout the YKD. Disagreement largely arose from observations during shoulder seasons, when there is partial snow cover and very high cloud frequency. Nonetheless, both records shared strong correlations with spring sea ice extent and summer warmth. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that, despite frequent disturbances and high interannual variability in spring sea ice and summer warmth, tundra productivity is increasing on the YKD. Although climatic drivers of tundra productivity were similar to more continental parts of the Arctic, our intercomparison highlights sources of uncertainty in maritime areas like the YKD that currently, or soon will, challenge historical concepts of “what is Arctic.”


Author(s):  
K. V. Ticman ◽  
S. G. Salmo III ◽  
K. E. Cabello ◽  
M. Q. Germentil ◽  
D. M. Burgos ◽  
...  

Abstract. The mangrove forests of Lawaan-Balangiga in Eastern Samar lost significant cover due to the Typhoon Haiyan that struck the region in 2013. The mangroves in the area have since shown signs of recovery in terms of growth and spatial coverage, but these widely varied with locations. This study aims to further examine the status of recovery of mangroves across different locations by analysing the time series trends of selected vegetation and moisture indices: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI), and Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI). These indices were extracted from Landsat 8 surface reflectance images, spanning 2014 to 2020, using Google Earth Engine (GEE). The time series analyses showed similar NDVI, MSAVI and NDMI values and trends after the 2013 typhoon event. The trend slopes also indicated high correlation (0.91 – 1.00) between and among the indices, with NDVI having the highest correlation with MSAVI (∼1.00). The study was able to corroborate the previous study on mangroves in Lawaan-Balangiga, by presenting positive trend results in the identified recovered areas. These trends, however, would still have to be validated by collecting and comparing biophysical parameters in the field. The next step of the research would be to identify the factors that contribute to the varying rates of recovery in the areas and to evaluate how this can affect the carbon sequestration rates of recovering mangroves.


Author(s):  
L. Xu ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
S. Li ◽  
X. Li

Abstract. Due to the influence of cloud cover, atmospheric disturbance and many other factors, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) corrupted by noises has a negative effect on the downstream applications. To this end, researchers have developed a large number of methods to reconstruct NDVI time series. The harmonic analysis of time series (HANTS) is one of the most widely used approaches of NDVI reconstruction. In this paper, HANTS algorithm was improved by the utilization of spatio-temporal information of NDVI time series with spatial filling and filtering, which makes up the deficiency of HANTS that only uses temporal information of NDVI time series. The simulation experiments on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI time series have proved that our method has effectively improved the quantitative and qualitative reconstruction performance of HANTS algorithm.


Technologies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Guang Yang ◽  
Yuntao Ma ◽  
Jiaqi Hu

The boundary of urban built-up areas is the baseline data of a city. Rapid and accurate monitoring of urban built-up areas is the prerequisite for the boundary control and the layout of urban spaces. In recent years, the night light satellite sensors have been employed in urban built-up area extraction. However, the existing extraction methods have not fully considered the properties that directly reflect the urban built-up areas, like the land surface temperature. This research first converted multi-source data into a uniform projection, geographic coordinate system and resampling size. Then, a fused variable that integrated the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) night light images, the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface temperature product and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) product was designed to extract the built-up areas. The fusion results showed that the values of the proposed index presented a sharper gradient within a smaller spatial range, compared with the only night light images. The extraction results were tested in both the area sizes and the spatial locations. The proposed index performed better in both accuracies (average error rate 1.10%) and visual perspective. We further discussed the regularity of the optimal thresholds in the final boundary determination. The optimal thresholds of the proposed index were more stable in different cases on the premise of higher accuracies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1618
Author(s):  
Melakeneh G. Gedefaw ◽  
Hatim M. E. Geli ◽  
Temesgen Alemayehu Abera

Rangelands provide significant socioeconomic and environmental benefits to humans. However, climate variability and anthropogenic drivers can negatively impact rangeland productivity. The main goal of this study was to investigate structural and productivity changes in rangeland ecosystems in New Mexico (NM), in the southwestern United States of America during the 1984–2015 period. This goal was achieved by applying the time series segmented residual trend analysis (TSS-RESTREND) method, using datasets of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies and precipitation from Parameter elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), and developing an assessment framework. The results indicated that about 17.6% and 12.8% of NM experienced a decrease and an increase in productivity, respectively. More than half of the state (55.6%) had insignificant change productivity, 10.8% was classified as indeterminant, and 3.2% was considered as agriculture. A decrease in productivity was observed in 2.2%, 4.5%, and 1.7% of NM’s grassland, shrubland, and ever green forest land cover classes, respectively. Significant decrease in productivity was observed in the northeastern and southeastern quadrants of NM while significant increase was observed in northwestern, southwestern, and a small portion of the southeastern quadrants. The timing of detected breakpoints coincided with some of NM’s drought events as indicated by the self-calibrated Palmar Drought Severity Index as their number increased since 2000s following a similar increase in drought severity. Some breakpoints were concurrent with some fire events. The combination of these two types of disturbances can partly explain the emergence of breakpoints with degradation in productivity. Using the breakpoint assessment framework developed in this study, the observed degradation based on the TSS-RESTREND showed only 55% agreement with the Rangeland Productivity Monitoring Service (RPMS) data. There was an agreement between the TSS-RESTREND and RPMS on the occurrence of significant degradation in productivity over the grasslands and shrublands within the Arizona/NM Tablelands and in the Chihuahua Desert ecoregions, respectively. This assessment of NM’s vegetation productivity is critical to support the decision-making process for rangeland management; address challenges related to the sustainability of forage supply and livestock production; conserve the biodiversity of rangelands ecosystems; and increase their resilience. Future analysis should consider the effects of rising temperatures and drought on rangeland degradation and productivity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 719
Author(s):  
Xiuxia Li ◽  
Shunlin Liang ◽  
Huaan Jin

Leaf area index (LAI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) are key parameters for various applications. However, due to sensor tradeoff and cloud contaminations, these data are often temporally intermittent and spatially discontinuous. To address the discontinuities, this study proposed a method based on spectral matching of 30 m discontinuous values from Landsat data and 500 m temporally continuous values from Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Experiments have proven that the proposed method can effectively yield spatiotemporally continuous vegetation products at 30 m spatial resolution. The results for three different study areas with NDVI and LAI showed that the method performs well in restoring the time series, fills in the missing data, and reasonably predicts the images. Remarkably, the proposed method could address the issue when no cloud-free data pairs are available close to the prediction date, because of the temporal information “borrowed” from coarser resolution data. Hence, the proposed method can make better use of partially obscured images. The reconstructed spatiotemporally continuous data have great potential for monitoring vegetation, agriculture, and environmental dynamics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urška Kanjir ◽  
Nataša Đurić ◽  
Tatjana Veljanovski

The European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020 timeframe reform will reshape the agriculture land use control procedures from a selected risk fields-based approach into an all-inclusive one. The reform fosters the use of Sentinel data with the objective of enabling greater transparency and comparability of CAP results in different Member States. In this paper, we investigate the analysis of a time series approach using Sentinel-2 images and the suitability of the BFAST (Breaks for Additive Season and Trend) Monitor method to detect changes that correspond to land use anomaly observations in the assessment of agricultural parcel management activities. We focus on identifying certain signs of ineligible (inconsistent) use in permanent meadows and crop fields in one growing season, and in particular those that can be associated with time-defined greenness (vegetation vigor). Depending on the requirements of the BFAST Monitor method and currently time-limited Sentinel-2 dataset for the reliable anomaly study, we introduce customized procedures to support and verify the BFAST Monitor anomaly detection results using the analysis of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) object-based temporal profiles and time-series standard deviation output, where geographical objects of interest are parcels of particular land use. The validation of land use candidate anomalies in view of land use ineligibilities was performed with the information on declared land annual use and field controls, as obtained in the framework of subsidy granting in Slovenia. The results confirm that the proposed combined approach proves efficient to deal with short time series and yields high accuracy rates in monitoring agricultural parcel greenness. As such it can already be introduced to help the process of agricultural land use control within certain CAP activities in the preparation and adaptation phase.


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