Global vegetation greenness interannual variability and its evolvement in recent decades

Abstract

Abstract The interannual variability (IAV) of global vegetation greenness needs careful assessment as it relates to the stability of the climate, conservation of biodiversity, sustainable ecosystem services, and global food security. Here, we investigated the spatial feature and temporal evolvement of global vegetation greenness interannual variability from 1982 to 2015 using the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index third generation (NDVI3g) data. Generally, regions with herbaceous and short woody plants had larger IAV of vegetation greenness than those with tall woody biome types (7.9% versus 2.9%). On average, all the biomes displayed increasing IAV of vegetation greenness from 1982 to 2015, with notable increases over northern high latitudes (0.135%/year), Eastern Europe (0.037%//year), and Central Australia (0.231%/year). Croplands in China and India experienced decreasing IAV of vegetation greenness (–0.037%/year for China and –0.004%/year for India). The changing IAV of vegetation greenness had implications for climatic, environmental, and anthropogenic changes that influence vegetation dynamics. Some note-worthy factors include climate warming, the CO2 fertilization effect, agricultural practice improvement, cropland abandonment, and China’s Grain-for-Green Program.