Abstract
This study investigates temporal relationships between vegetation growth, rainfall, and soil moisture for six sites located in sub-Saharan and southern Africa for the period 2005-2009. Specifically, seasonal components of time series of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) composites from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and half-hourly in-situ rainfall and soil moisture data at different depths (5-200 cm) during the growing season were used in a lagged correlation analysis in order to understand how vegetation growth responds to rainfall and soil moisture across different sites. Results indicate that both vegetation indices are strongly related to soil moisture (EVI slightly stronger than NDVI) for the upper 1 m reaching maximum correlations when they lag soil moisture by 0-28 days. They respond to rainfall with a 24-32 day lag at the sub-Saharan sites, EVI slightly earlier than NDVI, but their response at the southern hemisphere sites is complex.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |
| Event | 34th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment - The GEOSS Era: Towards Operational Environmental Monitoring - Sydney, NSW, Australia Duration: 2011 Apr 10 → 2011 Apr 15 |
Conference
| Conference | 34th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment - The GEOSS Era: Towards Operational Environmental Monitoring |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Australia |
| City | Sydney, NSW |
| Period | 2011/04/10 → 2011/04/15 |
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Physical Geography
Free keywords
- vegetation
- soil moisture
- hydrology
- MODIS