Changes in Vegetation Coverage and Migration Characteristics of Center of Gravity in the Arid Desert Region of Northwest China in 30 Recent Years

Abstract

Vegetation coverage is important in global landscape change patterns, but research on temporal and spatial dynamic changes and analysis of vegetation landscape pattern is relatively lacking. The present study aimed to investigate the dynamic changes of vegetation coverage in the arid desert region of Northwest China and analyze the characteristics of its center of gravity migration. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and pixel binary model were used to calculate the vegetation coverage to analyze the vegetation distribution characteristics and vegetation migration in the arid desert area in Northwest China in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2015 and 2020. The results showed that from 1990 to 2020, the proportion of light and severe vegetation coverage in the arid desert region of Northwest China increased, while the proportion of medium vegetation coverage decreased. The distribution types of medium- and high-grade vegetation generally migrate to the southeast and south, which may be mainly due to the humid climate conditions and higher population density in this direction. The vegetation center of gravity migration is mainly concentrated in the southeast-south direction. Vegetation degradation occurs in the northwest region, and vegetation improvement is the main trend in the southeast and south region. The direction of vegetation migration may be affected by precipitation and soil humidity. This study provides a theoretical basis and has certain guiding significance for desertification control, ecological sustainable management, ecological restoration, and protection in the arid desert region of Northwest China.