The Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map: AVHRR-derived base maps, environmental controls, and integrated mapping procedures

Abstract

A new false-colour-infrared image derived from biweekly 1993 and 1995 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data provides a snow-free and cloud-free base image for the interpretation of vegetation as part of a 1:7.5 M-scale Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM). A maximumNDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) image prepared from the same data provides a circumpolar view of vegetation green-biomass density across the Arctic. This paper describes the remote sensing products, the environmental factors that control the principal vegetation patterns at this small scale, and the integrated geographic information-system (GIS) methods used in making the CAVM.