An overview of vegetation health in the North West Province, South Africa, between 2010 and 2020

Abstract

Abstract The North West Province in South Africa is an important contributor to the country’s economy with agriculture and mining the main drivers. Droughts regularly affect the region and impact greatly on farming which in turn has negative socio-economic consequences. Multi-temporal satellite remote sensing data is well suited to study changes in vegetation health. Vegetation and temperature indices from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor and rainfall data from the Climate Hazards group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) between 2010 and 2020 showed good vegetation health in 2010 and 2020, but gradually worsening drought condition in the intervening years. Although the entire North West Province is affected by drought, the central and western portions experience the worst conditions. The vegetation condition index, temperature condition index and vegetation health index show a faster recovery along the western edge of the province in 2018 than the rest of the province, a detail not easily visible in the conventional enhanced vegetation index and land surface temperature data. They also show a gradual decrease in vegetation health between 2010 and 2014. A comparison with geology shows that vegetation health is, in part, also linked to the underlying rock types.