Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Recent trends in vegetation dynamics in the South America and their relationship to rainfall

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Natural Hazards Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research investigates spatial patterns of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and rainfall variability in South America and their relationships based on analyses of the Standardized Difference Vegetation Index (SDVI) and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for the period April 1998–March 2012. The time series of SPOT-Vegetation 10-daily composite NDVI data at 1-km resolution was smoothed and subsequently synthesized to monthly images using the maximum value composite technique. Furthermore, 10-daily rainfall estimates at 0.25° resolution, available from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts through MeteoConsult and the Monitoring Agricultural ResourceS unit, were combined to retrieve monthly composites. In order to assess spatial patterns and rates of change, linear least squares trend analyses were performed on the SDVI time series and the SPI time series, taking into account the accumulated rainfall over the respective best lag. Only trends with Pearson’s correlation coefficients significantly different from zero (p < 0.05) were considered significant. The results indicated that vegetation degradation is coupled to a significant decrease in the amount of rainfall in the last 14 years in 8 % of South America’s area. In contrast, in 18 % of the subcontinental area, vegetation greenness has significantly increased over the last 14 years, coupled to an increase in rainfall. For 46 % of the study area, significant degradation or greening processes could not be linked to changes in rainfall over time, indicating human impact or the influence of other climatic factors, such as temperature and net radiation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aber JD (1997) Why don’t we believe the models. Bull Ecol Soc Am 78:232–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Aduan RE, Klink CA, Davidson EA (2000) Carbon budget in different components of a woody savanna in Brazilian Cerrado. In: Proceeding of I LBA Scientific Conference, Belém, Para, 96

  • Bai ZG, Dent DL (2007) Global assessment of Land degradation and improvement: pilot study in Kenya. ISRIC Report 2007/03, World Soil Information (ISRIC), Wageningen

  • Bai ZG, Dent DL, Olsson L, Schaepman ME (2008) Proxy global assessment of land degradation. Soil Use Manag 24:223–234

  • Baldi G, Nosetto M, Aragón R, Aversa F, Paruelo J, Jobbágy E (2008) Long-term satellite NDVI data sets: evaluating their ability to detect ecosystem functional changes in South America. Sensors 8:5397–5425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbosa HA (1998) Spatial and temporal analysis of vegetation index derived from AVHRR/NOAA and rainfall over Northeastern Brazil during 1982–1985. Master degree dissertation in Remote Sensing [in Portuguese]. Divisão de Sensoriamento Remoto, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias: São José dos Campos, Brazil

  • Barbosa HA, Kumar Lakshmi TV (2011) Strengthening regional capacities for providing remote sensing decision support in drylands in the context of climate variability & change. In: Young SS, Silvern SE (ed) Environmental Change: USA. ISBN 979-953-307-109-0

  • Barbosa HA, Huete AR, Baethgen WE (2006) A 20-year study of NDVI variability over the Northeast Region of Brazil. J Arid Environ 67:288–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhuiyan C, Kogan FN (2008) Monsoon dynamics and vegetative drought patterns in the Luni basin under rain-shadow zone. Int J Remote Sens 31:3223–3242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burrows JP, Holzle E, Goede APH, Visser H, Fricke W (1995) SCIAMACHY-scanning imaging absorption spectrometer for atmospheric chartography. Acta Astronaut 35:445–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cramer W, Bondeau A, Woodward FI, Prentice IC, Betts RA, Brovkin V, Cox PM, Fisher V, Foley JA, Friend AD, Kucharik C, Lomas MR, Ramankutty N, Sitch S, Smith B, White A, Young-Molling C (2001) Global response of terrestrial ecosystem structure and function to CO2 and climate change: results from six dynamic global vegetation models. Glob Change Biol 7:357–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davenport ML, Nicholson SE (1993) On the relation between rainfall and the normalized difference vegetation index for diverse vegetation types in East Africa. Int J Remote Sens 14:2369–2389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eiten G (1993) Vegetação do cerrado. In Cerrado: caracterização, ocupação e perspectivas (M.N. Pinto, org.). Editora da Universidade de Brasília - Edunb/Secretaria do Meio Ambiente, Ciência e Tecnologia - SEMATEC, Brasília, 17-73

  • Emery WJ, Thomson RE (2001) Data analysis methods in physical oceanography, 2nd edn. Elsevier BV, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao X, Huete AR, Ni W, Miura T (2000) Optical-biophysical relationships of vegetation spectra without background contamination. Remote Sens Environ 74:609–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grace J (2000) Fluxes of CO2, water, and energy over several savannas. In: Proceedings of I LBA Scientific Conference, Belém, Pará, 96

  • Guttman N (1999) Accepting the standardized precipitation index: a calculation algorithm. J Am Water Resour As 35:311–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanan NP (1997) Remote sensing of fractional PAR interception, in hydrologic atmosphere pilot experiment in the Sahel (HAPEX-Sahel)—methods, measurements and selected results from the West Central Supersite, eds. Kabat P, Prince SD, Prihodko L, Report 130, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp 139–149

  • Helldén U, Tottrup C (2008) Regional desertification: a global synthesis. Glob Planet Change 64:169–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogan FN (2000) Satellite-observed sensitivity of world land ecosystems to El Niño/La Niña. Remote Sens Environ 74:445–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakshmi Kumar TV, Koteswara Rao K, Barbosa H, Prabha Jothi E (2013) Studies on spatial patterns of NDVI over India and its relationship with rainfall, air temperature, soil moisture adequacy and ENSO. Geofozika 30:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Liebmann B, Kiladis G, Vera CS, Saulo AC (2004) Subseasonal variations of rainfall in South America in the vicinity of the low-level jet east of the Andes and comparison to those in the South Atlantic convergence zone. J Clim 17:3829–3842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd-Hughes B, Saunders MA (2002) A drought climatology for Europe. Int J Climatol 22:1571–1592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotsch A, Friedl M, Anderson B, Tucker C (2003) Coupled vegetation-precipitation variability observed from satellite and climate records. Geophys Res Lett 30:1774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahesh P, Mather PM (2003) An assessment of the effectiveness of decision tree methods for land cover classification. Remote Sens Environ 86:554–565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malo AR, Nicholson SE (1990) A study of rainfall and vegetation dynamics in the African Sahel using normalized difference vegetation index. J Arid Environ 19:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Mantovani JE, Pereira A (1998) Estimating the integrity of the Cerrado vegetation cover through the Landsat-TM data. In: Proceedings of Simposio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto 9: Santos, SP. (Proceedings in Portuguese - CD-ROM version)

  • Myneni RB, Keeling CD, Tucker CJ et al (1997) Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature 386:698–702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson SE, Davenport ML, Malo AR (1990) A comparison of the vegetation response to rainfall in the Sahel and east Africa, using normalized difference vegetation index from NOAA AVHRR. Clim Change 17:209–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paruelo JM, Garbulski MF, Guerschman JP, Jobbagy EG (2004) Two decades of normalized difference vegetation index changes in South America: identifying the inprint of global change. Int J Remote 25:2793–2806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters A, Walter-Shea E, Ji L, Vina A, Hayes M, Svoboda M (2002) Drought monitoring with NDVI-based standardized vegetation index. Photogramm Eng Remote Sensing 68:71–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Propastin PA, Kappas M, Erasmi S, Muratova NR (2007) Remote sensing based study on intra-annual dynamics of vegetation and climate in drylands of Kazakhstan. Basic Appl Dryland Res 2:138–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigues RR, McPhaden MJ (2014) Why did the 2011–12 La Niña cause a severe drought in the Brazilian Northeast? Geophys Res Lett 41:1012–1018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rouse JW, Haas RH, Schell JA, Deering DW (1974) Third earth resources technology satellite-1 symposium. NASA, Greenbelt, pp 310–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruimy A, Saugier B, Dedieu G (1994) Methodology for the estimation of terrestrial net primary production from remotely sensed data. J Geophys Res 99:5263–5283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarma AALN, Lakshmi Kumar TV (2006) Studies on crop growing period and NDVI in relation to water balance components. Indian J Radio Space Phys 35:424–434

    Google Scholar 

  • Shilong P, Jingyun F, Wei J, Qinghua G, Jinhu K, Shu T (2004) Variation in a satellite based vegetation index in relation to climate in China. J Veg Sci 15:219–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skole DL, Chomentowiski WH, Salas WA, Nobre CA (1994) Physical and human dimensions of deforestation in Amazonia. Biosciences 44:314–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srur AM, Villalba R, Baldi G (2011) Variations in anarthro-phyllum rigidum radial growth, NDVI and ecosystem productivity in the Patagonian shrubby steppes. Plant Ecol 212:1841–1854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton P, Law B, Gholz H, Clark K, Falge E, Ellsworth D, Goldstein A, Monson R, Hollinger D, Falk M, Chen J, Sparks J (2002) Modeling and measuring the effects of disturbance history and climate on carbon and water budgets in evergreen needleleaf forests. Agric For Meteorol 113:185–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tote C, Beringhs K, Swinnen E, Govers G (2011) Monitoring environmental change in the Andes based on SPOT-VGT and NOAA-AVHRR time series analysis. In 6th International workshop on the analysis of multi-temporal remote sensing images: Trento, Italy

  • Van Leeuwen WJD, Huete AR, Laaing TW (1999) MODIS vegetation index ecosystem compositing approach: a prototype with AVHRR data. Remote Sens Environ 69:264–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vera C, Higgins W, Amador J, Ambrizzi T, Garreaud R, Gochis D, Gutzler D, Lettenmaier D, Marengo J, Mechoso CR, Nogues Paegle J, Silva Dias PL, Zhang C (2006) Toward a unified view of the American Monsoon Systems. J Clim 19:4977–5000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White MA, Thornton PE, Running SW, Nemani RR (2000) Parameterization and sensitivity analysis of the BIOME-BGC terrestrial ecosystem model: net primary production controls. Earth Interact 4:1–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou L, Tucker CJ, Kaufmann RK, Slayback D, Shabanov NV, Myneni RB (2001) Variations in northern vegetation activity inferred from satellite data of vegetation index during 1981 to 1999. J Geophys Res 20:20069–20083

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) for kindly providing both the NDVI and rainfall data. We would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Laerte Guimarães Ferreira Junior at Federal University of Goiás (UFG), for the data presented in Fig. 9, Prof. Dr. Ana C. M Malhado at UFAL and Carolien Tote (VITO) made comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The paper was significantly improved after the comments by two anonymous reviewers. This work was supported by EUROCLIMA that is a regional cooperation programme between the European Union and Latin America, focused on climate change (http://www.euroclima.org).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Análise e Processamento de Imagens de Satélites (LAPIS), Instituto de Ciências Atmosféricas (ICAT), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió, Brazil

    H. A. Barbosa

  2. Atmospheric Science Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, SRM University, Kattankulathur, India

    T. V. Lakshmi Kumar

  3. Instituto de Ciências Atmosféricas (ICAT), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Campus A. C. Simões, BR 104 Norte - Tabuleiro do Martins, Maceió, AL, 57072-970, Brazil

    H. A. Barbosa & L. R. M. Silva

Authors
  1. H. A. Barbosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. V. Lakshmi Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. L. R. M. Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. A. Barbosa.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Barbosa, H.A., Lakshmi Kumar, T.V. & Silva, L.R.M. Recent trends in vegetation dynamics in the South America and their relationship to rainfall. Nat Hazards 77, 883–899 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1635-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1635-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation