The Relationship between NDVI and Climate Factors at Different Monthly Time Scales: A Case Study of Grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China (1982–2015)
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Data Sources
2.3. Methods
2.3.1. Calculation of the NDVI Data at the Meteorological Stations
2.3.2. Correlation Analysis between NDVI and Climate Factors
2.3.3. Lag Analysis between NDVI and Climate Factors
3. Results
3.1. Temporal Changes in NDVI and Climate Factors
3.2. Correlation between NDVI and Climate Factors
3.2.1. Correlation between NDVI and Climate Factors in the Within-Growing Season
3.2.2. Correlation between NDVI and Climate Factors in the Inter-Growing Season
3.2.3. Change in the NDVI–Climate Relationship at Multiple Time Scales
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- (1)
- NDVI was affected by temperature and precipitation from 1982 to 2015 in the area, showing obvious periodic changes, and NDVI showed a certain time lag for climate factors.
- (2)
- The NDVI–climate relationship was quite different when comparing the within-growing season and the inter-growing season. NDVI had a high value of R with climate factors in the within-growing season, while the significant correlation between them was different in different months in the inter-growing season.
- (3)
- With the increase in time series, the value of R between NDVI and climate factors of all grassland types showed a trend of increase in the within-growing season, while the value of R between NDVI and precipitation decreased but then tended toward stability in the inter-growing season.
- (4)
- Due to the synchronization of rainfall and temperature, the correlation coefficients obtained by the within-growing season method were a kind of pseudo correlation, which may not truly reflect the impact of water and heat conditions on vegetation, so this method should be carefully used in the future. In the inter-growing season, the NDVI–climate relationship in different months was analysed separately, which can reduce the impact of rain and heat in the same period and may be more realistic to reflect the relationship between them. So the inter-growing season method is more suitable for the analysis of the NDVI–climate relationship.
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Grassland Type | Climate Factor | April | May | June | July | August | September | October |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Meadow steppe | Temperature | 0.457 | 0.573 | 0.410 | ||||
Precipitation | 0.431 | |||||||
Typical steppe | Temperature | 0.408 | −0.420 | −0.440 | 0.389 | |||
Precipitation | 0.414 | 0.491 | 0.550 | |||||
Desert steppe | Temperature | −0.368 | ||||||
Precipitation | 0.515 | 0.436 | 0.532 | 0.542 |
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Pei, Z.; Fang, S.; Yang, W.; Wang, L.; Wu, M.; Zhang, Q.; Han, W.; Khoi, D.N. The Relationship between NDVI and Climate Factors at Different Monthly Time Scales: A Case Study of Grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China (1982–2015). Sustainability 2019, 11, 7243. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247243
Pei Z, Fang S, Yang W, Wang L, Wu M, Zhang Q, Han W, Khoi DN. The Relationship between NDVI and Climate Factors at Different Monthly Time Scales: A Case Study of Grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China (1982–2015). Sustainability. 2019; 11(24):7243. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247243
Chicago/Turabian StylePei, Zhifang, Shibo Fang, Wunian Yang, Lei Wang, Mingyan Wu, Qifei Zhang, Wei Han, and Dao Nguyen Khoi. 2019. "The Relationship between NDVI and Climate Factors at Different Monthly Time Scales: A Case Study of Grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China (1982–2015)" Sustainability 11, no. 24: 7243. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247243
APA StylePei, Z., Fang, S., Yang, W., Wang, L., Wu, M., Zhang, Q., Han, W., & Khoi, D. N. (2019). The Relationship between NDVI and Climate Factors at Different Monthly Time Scales: A Case Study of Grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China (1982–2015). Sustainability, 11(24), 7243. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247243