Vegetation Dynamics and Their Response to Climatic Variability in China

Abstract

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.