Analysis of the phenology of global vegetation using meteorological satellite data

TLDR

The study demonstrates that coarse‑resolution, high‑frequency NOAA/AVHRR satellite data can monitor vegetation seasonal dynamics and evaluates their use for tracking forest clearance in Brazil, productivity of African grasslands, Indian tropical forests, and Chinese agriculture. The authors outline data processing and analysis techniques and provide examples across multiple scales. Global NDVI images reveal seasonal dynamics of major vegetation formations across continents, and the study concludes that coarse‑resolution satellite data are valuable for regional and global vegetation mapping and monitoring.

Abstract

Abstract Coarse spatial resolution, high temporal frequency satellite data from the NOAA/AVHRR system are presented to demonstrate their utility for monitoring vegetation seasonal dynamics. The techniques for processing and analysing the data are outlined and examples are given for selected applications at a range of scales. Normalized difference vegetation index images are presented for the entire globe and for the continents of Africa, South America and south-east Asia, with descriptions of the seasonal dynamics of major vegetation formations as portrayed by the transformed AVHRR data. Monitoring of forest clearance in Brazil, the productivity of African grasslands, Indian tropical forest and Chinese agriculture are selected for discussion. The paper concludes that coarse-resolution satellite data provide a valuable tool for vegetation mapping and monitoring at regional and global scales.