Search Results (2,378)

Using daily rainfall observations from 1961 to 2022 (62 years) across 15 typical sub-regions within the water-receiving area of the Zhejiang East Water Diversion Project, this study systematically examines the spatiotemporal distribution, long-term trends, multi-scale variability, and inter-regional correlations of rainfall. An integrated framework was employed, including the Mann–Kendall (MK) trend test, Sen’s slope estimator, Hurst exponent analysis, and multi-scale sliding window analysis. Spatially, the multi-year average daily rainfall ranges from 3.47 mm to 5.68 mm, following a distinct “high in the center, low in the west” pattern, with the Yuyao Plain Mazhu Midstream Area identified as the regional rainfall maximum. In the raw Mann–Kendall test all 15 sub-regions exhibit increasing trends, of which 14 remain statistically significant (p < 0.05) after trend-free pre-whitening; Sen’s slopes follow a “coastal > riverine > hilly” gradient. Hurst exponents greater than 0.5 suggest persistent behavior in the rainfall series, although attribution to external forcing or separation from low-frequency climate variability requires additional analysis. Multi-scale sliding window analysis reveals strong scale dependence: the amplitude of trend fluctuations decreases by approximately 90% from ±16 mm at the 3-month scale to ±1.7 mm at the 12-month scale, while inter-regional correlation coefficients increase from 0.83 to 0.87. Notably, the Yuyao Plain Mazhu Midstream Area displays a unique “increase-then-decrease” correlation pattern, reflecting its distinctive hydro-geographic conditions. These findings provide a scientific basis for climate-adaptive scheduling of water diversion projects, supporting water security, urban resilience, and climate action. Full article

Real-time road accident prediction under dynamic climatic conditions remains a critical challenge for intelligent transportation systems, especially in peripheral and rural regions with limited communication infrastructure. This study proposes and evaluates a comprehensive five-layer cyber–physical architecture based on Federated Edge Intelligence to enable climate-aware spatiotemporal road accident prediction across the 24 provinces of Ecuador. The framework integrates low-power IoT sensing nodes equipped with TinyML capabilities (ESP32-S3), long-range LoRaWAN (Long-Range Wide-Area Network) communication networks, containerized edge–cloud orchestration via OpenNebula and K3s, a decentralized Federated Learning ecosystem using the FedAvg algorithm, and a geospatial decision intelligence backend. Leveraging a nationwide multi-source dataset spanning the 2014–2025 period with 27,620 processed records, the architecture successfully handles highly skewed historical accident profiles optimized through a Box–Cox transformation. Empirical results demonstrate that the centralized Stacking ensemble achieves the highest overall baseline performance ($R^2=0.2460,\mathrm{MAE}=0.4748$) in the Box–Cox transformed space. In the decentralized environment, the federated Gradient Boosting implementation establishes a resilient and viable accuracy trade-off ($14.51\%$ increase in MAE) while strictly maintaining localized data sovereignty and compliance with personal data protection legislation. Operationally, the edge nodes achieve a localized inference latency of only $78\mathrm{ms}$, well below the critical $200\mathrm{ms}$ safety threshold, while the global aggregation engine exhibits rapid convergence within just three communication rounds. This cyber–physical ecosystem proves that combining localized TinyML inference with federated aggregation provides a scalable, low-latency, and privacy-preserving foundation for next-generation climate-aware road safety infrastructures in connectivity-constrained environments. Full article

Accurate and transferable land cover mapping from satellite imagery is a prerequisite for national-scale agrienvironmental monitoring and climate change impact assessment. The joint use of Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery offers complementary structural and spectral information, yet systematic evaluation of fusion strategies and their geographic transferability remains limited. We trained and tested five U-Net fusion architectures S1-only, S2-only, early (input-level), feature-level (middle), and decision-level (late) alongside a SegFormer-b2 transformer baseline over two German cities (Munich and Berlin) using the Multi-Sensor Land Cover Classification (MSLCC) dataset (single-date 2017 Sentinel-1B/Sentinel-2A acquisitions) at 10 m resolution. Three cross-city transfer protocols (Munich → Berlin, Berlin → Munich, and combined training) quantify model transferability across contrasting urban–rural gradients. Early fusion achieved the highest in-city macro-averaged F1 score among U-Net variants (0.8278), a small but statistically significant improvement over the optical-only baseline (0.8236; patch-level paired bootstrap, $p=0.006$); feature-level (middle, 0.8164) and decision-level (late, 0.8196) fusion were, by contrast, significantly worse than the optical-only baseline ($p<0.001$ and $p=0.030$, respectively), and the SAR-only model (0.6864) trailed substantially. The built-up class was the primary beneficiary of SAR inclusion under early fusion. SegFormer-b2 (0.8214) was numerically close to, but statistically significantly below, the best convolutional configuration ($p=0.005$), and exhibited strong cross-city transfer (0.8632–0.8608 macro-F1), consistent with the geographic invariance conferred by its ImageNet-pretrained encoder. Combined training across both cities improved over the single-direction transfer average by 0.012 macro-F1 points for U-Net and 0.006 points for SegFormer, offering a practical route to national-scale deployment without requiring explicit domain adaptation. Spectral index augmentation (NDVI, NDWI, ExG) and SE channel attention did not significantly improve over plain early fusion when derived from percentile-normalized inputs, with the best variant statistically indistinguishable from the baseline at macro-F1 = 0.8268 ($p=0.365$); the result is attributable to a specific preprocessing dependency: NDVI, NDWI, and ExG are only physically meaningful when computed from calibrated reflectance, whereas here they were derived after scene-level 2nd–98th percentile stretching, which strips the absolute radiometric referencing the indices rely on; practitioners combining spectral indices with percentile-normalized (rather than physically calibrated, e.g., Level-2A surface-reflectance) inputs should expect a similar null result. Full article

Urban hillside areas concentrate hydrological and geotechnical risks intensified by accelerated urbanization and climate change. Although Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized as promising strategies for urban resilience, their application in hillside environments remains limited in scientific literature. This study integrates bibliometric analysis and a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) based on searches conducted across Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science from 2020 to 2025. Of the 4435 retrieved publications, only 92 addressed the association between NbS, hydrological modeling, and urban hillside environments. This reduction suggests that research integrating these themes remains limited within the adopted search criteria. The results demonstrate that hillside occupation in the Global South is conditioned by socio-spatial inequality, increasing exposure to landslides, erosion, and hydrological hazards. NbS were shown to reduce runoff peaks and contribute to slope stabilization when strategically positioned and adapted to slope gradient and hydrological connectivity; however, their effectiveness depends on continuous maintenance and monitoring. Comparative assessment indicates that most hydrological models are still applied in isolation, limiting the representation of coupled infiltration, soil saturation, and subsurface instability processes. The results indicate that effective NbS implementation in urban hillside areas requires integrated modeling approaches, interdisciplinary frameworks, and risk-oriented urban planning, particularly in socio-environmentally vulnerable contexts. Full article

Solidago canadensis L. is a regulated invasive alien species in China and was first recorded in the wild in Jiangsu Province. Despite widespread concern regarding its distribution and ecological associations, province-wide information on its current invasion status and associated plant community patterns in Jiangsu remains limited. To fill this gap, we conducted field surveys at 165 sites across Jiangsu Province and combined hierarchical clustering, plant-community diversity analysis, species-level analysis of accompanying-plant composition, redundancy analysis, and MaxEnt modeling to evaluate invasion-intensity patterns, associated environmental and anthropogenic factors, and plant-community responses in invaded communities. Solidago canadensis was recorded throughout the province, but invasion intensity was highest in southern Jiangsu. Hierarchical clustering classified the 165 sampling sites into three invasion-intensity groups. Group A (74 sites), concentrated in southern Jiangsu, was classified as the severe invasion group and showed generally lower plant diversity within the invaded-site dataset. Group B (60 sites) represented moderate invasion. Group C (31 sites), mainly distributed in northern and coastal Jiangsu, represented light invasion and retained relatively higher accompanying-plant diversity. Within S. canadensis-invaded communities, we documented 183 accompanying plant species from 43 families. Asteraceae and Poaceae were the most species-rich families, and annual or biennial herbs were the dominant life-form category. Species-level analysis further showed that accompanying-plant composition varied significantly along the invasion-intensity gradient (PERMANOVA, R² = 0.035), suggesting that differences in S. canadensis dominance were associated with detectable shifts in local plant assemblages. Redundancy analysis indicated latitude, transportation route density, and floating population density were closely associated with variation in S. canadensis invasion indicators and associated community variables, with soil pH, precipitation of the driest month, GDP, and motor vehicle ownership also contributing to the observed pattern. MaxEnt modeling identified southern and central Jiangsu as the main climatically suitable areas. This pattern was broadly consistent with the concentration of higher invasion intensity in southern Jiangsu. Nevertheless, field records in northern Jiangsu suggest that areas with lower predicted climatic suitability should also remain under continued monitoring. These findings suggest the need for coordinated management, particularly along major transportation corridors and in highly disturbed urban habitats. Control efforts should combine zoning management, source control, repeated removal, and habitat restoration tailored to local conditions. Full article

Understanding vegetation phenology is critical for assessing the impacts of climate change, particularly in regions vulnerable to environmental fluctuations. This study investigates the temporal trends and spatial variability of the start of photosynthetic activity (SOP) in natural vegetation across Central Asia over the past four decades (1982–2022) using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data. The research emphasizes the critical role of vegetation phenology in understanding responses to climate change. To extract spring phenological data, various smoothing techniques were applied, including filter-based methods, asymmetrical Gaussian fitting, and three nonlinear and piecewise linear methods, ensuring accurate representation from continuous time series data. NDVI time series were smoothed using a phenological extraction package. The results indicate an average advance in SOP of 1.26 days per decade, with forest ecosystems exhibiting the greatest shift at 3.05 days per decade. A spring temperature threshold near 0 °C was identified as a reliable predictor for dormancy break. Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) was utilized to differentiate between cumulative and instantaneous trends, revealing dynamic phenological responses. A notable shift around 2005 was observed, with approximately 76.28% of pixels showing a change in SOP trend, while 23.60% displayed a stable, monotonic trend. Vegetation at elevations between 1500 and 3000 m experienced a significant SOP advance of 2.27 days per decade, whereas vegetation above 3000 m showed no significant change over the study period. Spatially, SOP trends exhibited a latitudinal gradient, with delays observed in the southern regions and advancements north of 45° N. These findings underscore the importance of developing region-specific phenological models to inform environmental management and climate adaptation strategies, particularly in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Full article

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L., Fabaceae) is an ecologically and economically significant species of the Mediterranean basin, yet its cytogenetic and genomic organisation have remained largely uncharacterised. Here we present the first comprehensive molecular cytogenetic characterisation of C. siliqua, combining conventional karyotyping, fluorochrome banding, fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), and flow cytometric genome size estimation across 29 accessions spanning the Mediterranean basin. A uniform diploid chromosome number of 2n = 24 was confirmed across all 14 populations examined, including Algerian, French, and Lebanese accessions, with no karyotypic variation detected regardless of geographic origin, altitude, or cultivation status. Karyotype analysis revealed a bimodal chromosome set comprising two large metacentric pairs and ten smaller pairs, with an intermediate asymmetry class (AsI = 60.09; R = 2.71). Physical mapping of ribosomal RNA gene families by FISH identified three chromosome pairs bearing 35S rDNA loci, all co-localising with GC-rich CMA₃-positive heterochromatin at satellite regions, and a single 5S rDNA locus at the telomeric region of a distinct chromosome pair, corresponding to the S-type arrangement. DAPI staining revealed an additional class of AT-rich constitutive heterochromatin at centromeric positions, compositionally and positionally independent of the rDNA arrays. Genome size was strikingly conserved across all 23 accessions assessed (2C = 1.10–1.23 pg; overall mean 1.14 ± 0.03 pg), with no significant variation attributable to geographic origin, altitude along an Algerian gradient (162–950 m a.s.l.), cultivation status, or sex. The near-identical genome sizes recorded in female and male individuals provide no cytometric evidence for heteromorphic sex chromosomes in this dioecious species. These results establish a stable genomic and cytogenetic baseline for C. siliqua across its Mediterranean range and provide a reference framework for future comparative cytogenetics, molecular marker development, and breeding programmes targeting this increasingly valued climate-resilient crop. Full article

Global warming is profoundly altering the structure and function of permafrost peatland ecosystems, but how soil microorganisms as core regulators of biogeochemical cycles respond to the process remains unclear. We investigated peatlands of the continuous, the discontinuous, and the isolated permafrost zones in the climatically sensitive high-latitude Greater Khingan Mountains using 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and soil physicochemical analysis to systematically reveal the spatial differentiation patterns, community assembly processes, and primary environmental factors of bacterial communities. The results indicated that bacterial alpha diversity was highest in the discontinuous permafrost zone, and both permafrost type and soil depth exerted significant effects on bacterial community composition. From the continuous to the isolated permafrost zones, the relative abundance of the dominant phylum Proteobacteria decreased, while phylum Chloroflexota showed a gradual increasing trend. Co-occurrence network analysis suggested that bacterial network complexity was highest in the continuous permafrost zone, and network stability decreased along the permafrost gradient. From the continuous to the isolated permafrost zone, the relative contribution of stochastic processes declined, whereas that of deterministic processes increased. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) further demonstrated that soil pH, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and soil water content (SWC) were major drivers of bacterial communities, with their effects differing among permafrost zones. Our study elucidated the synergistic evolutionary patterns of bacterial community composition, assembly mechanisms, and environmental drivers under permafrost degradation, providing key scientific evidence for predicting the feedback of high-latitude peatlands to climate warming. Full article

Traditional monitoring frameworks heavily rely on static, total heavy metal concentrations and deterministic indices, failing to capture how climate-driven stressors and micro-interface interactions alter the stability, speciation, and bioavailability of toxic metals. This review synthesizes the state-of-the-art literature at the intersection of hydrology, geochemistry, microbial ecology, and toxicology to address this gap. We investigate how shifting redox (Eh-pH) gradients and climate-forced hydrological extremes—ranging from drought-induced sediment acidification to flood-driven shear stress—accelerate the reductive dissolution of iron/manganese oxyhydroxides. This process consequently triggers seasonal pulses of bioavailable metals. Furthermore, we evaluate how aged microplastics act as dynamic vector interfaces, altering competitive adsorption kinetics and biological uptake. Crucially, we highlight the heavy metal-microbiome-antibiotic resistance axis, demonstrating how sublethal metal exposure drives the co-selection and proliferation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) via mobile genetic elements, revealing an indirect public health hazard. Finally, we critique deterministic assessments and advocate for probabilistic modeling via Monte Carlo simulations to capture exposure heterogeneity. By bridging macro-scale forcing with microscopic chemical and biological transformations, this review provides a comprehensive synthesis for shifting regulatory frameworks toward dynamic, bioavailability-based ecological governance. Full article

Assessing conservation effectiveness in mountainous protected areas (PAs) is challenged by weak counterfactuals, spatial confounding, and limited historical baselines. This study develops a spatial gradient dose–response framework using linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) to evaluate conservation-associated ecological responses in Daxiangling Nature Reserve, China, controlling for topography, climate, and neighboring protected area effects. Using 1 km resolution time-series data (2003–2022), we assessed three indicators—Net Primary Productivity (NPP), Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC), and a human-footprint-derived Ecosystem Integrity Index (EII)—each across state, trend, and stability dimensions. In the state dimension, NPP (β = 0.99, p < 0.001) and EII (β = 1.23, p < 0.001) were significantly higher inside the PA than in the peripheral reference zone, whereas FVC showed no significant difference, indicating indicator-specific sensitivity. NPP exhibited positive spillover to 15–20 km, while EII displayed a “boundary collapse” pattern—sharp decline within 0–5 km followed by distal recovery—suggesting edge effects and possible leakage. In the state dimension, high elevations amplified conservation effects on NPP and FVC. In the stability dimension, high elevations were associated with greater interannual variability across indicators, revealing a state–stability trade-off. Proximity to neighboring national PAs significantly enhanced EII across buffer zones, underscoring network connectivity. Cross-dimensional divergence was pronounced: NPP showed a state–stability trade-off in the PA, while EII exhibited decoupled state and trend signals across the boundary gradient. We recommend: (1) differentiated control in near-boundary zones (0–5 km); (2) prioritizing high-elevation core zones with stability monitoring; and (3) cross-PA patrols and ecological corridors. This framework offers a replicable, baseline-independent diagnostic approach for data-limited mountain systems where traditional counterfactual methods are difficult to apply. Full article

Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations are placing severe pressure on the Earth system, particularly on the ocean, which plays a vital role in carbon and heat uptake, and overall climate regulation. Consequently, the ocean is experiencing an accelerated warming, leading to an increase in the occurrence of extreme seawater temperature events, called Marine Heatwaves (MHWs). According to the most common definition, an MHW event is identified when local temperatures exceed the 90th percentile threshold of the climatology for at least five consecutive days. In this study, the definition was modified by calculating both the mean and the 90th percentile of SST over the entire available historical period (1982–2022), rather than using a fixed 30-year baseline. While MHWs can develop as a function of multiple drivers (including subsurface heat re-emergence, anomalously warm water masses, ocean heat advection, reduced vertical mixing, and mixed-layer stratification associated with surface heat gain), this study focuses on synoptic-scale atmospheric conditions associated with MHW occurrence and characteristics in the North Atlantic basin, from 1982 to 2022, with the objectives of identifying spatial-temporal trends of MHWs, examining the atmospheric conditions associated with their occurrence and exploring their relationship with prevalent climate variability modes. The results show positive trends in MHW frequency, duration, and intensity, albeit characterised by significant zonal and meridional variability, with noticeable differences between composite patterns of frequency and maximum intensity, according to the prevailing North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) mode. The annual NAO appears to modulate the spatial distribution of MHWs, with its positive phase favouring MHWs in mid-latitude regions, while the negative phase impacts subpolar and tropical regions. Furthermore, concerning case-specific events, the stationarity of high-pressure systems, with weak pressure gradients, reduced wind speeds and increased solar radiation appears to be associated with the occurrence of the analysed events, while atmospheric instability appears to signal their decline, likely linked to enhanced wind-induced ocean mixing. Full article

Water quality in high-elevation agricultural river valleys is shaped by regional environmental gradients and localized hydrogeochemical conditions, but multi-year assessments often do not clearly separate routine hydrochemical variability from metal(loid) risk. This study evaluates a public multi-year dataset from the agricultural concentration area of the Yarlung Zangbo River and its two tributaries on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. The dataset includes 444 river-water, groundwater, and irrigation-water samples collected in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024. We combined water-type-specific standard assessment, normalized exceedance frequencies, spatial visualization, and descriptive correlation analysis with terrain, land-cover, soil, and climate-hydrological predictors. Because sampling coverage and hydrological-period classification differed among years, annual contrasts were interpreted descriptively rather than as fixed-site temporal trends. Most samples were neutral to weakly alkaline, whereas electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), and salinity varied more strongly across years and sampling locations. In total, 70 samples exceeded at least one evaluated criterion, but only 12 samples were flagged in the metal(loid) assessment. Eight samples exceeded the 0.05 mg/L As screening threshold, occurring only in 2023 and 2024 (3.25% and 2.92% of samples in those years, respectively), and were concentrated in a localized reach rather than distributed basin-wide. As was positively associated with Mo and Hg, whereas relationships with Fe, Mn, pH, EC, TDS, and salinity were weak or inconsistent; dissolved oxygen was not available for the high-As samples. These results distinguish broad dissolved-solute variability from localized As-dominated risk and show that the dataset supports regional screening and monitoring prioritization, but not definitive redox, speciation, or source-apportionment conclusions. Full article

Ecosystem services (ESs) underpin human well-being and regional development by linking ecological processes with human land–use activities. However, for arid oasis urban agglomerations, evidence remains limited on long-term ES changes, landscape-type contributions, and future responses under alternative development pathways. We quantified five ESs in the UCS from 1990 to 2020 using InVEST and statistical allocation methods and related the resulting service maps to landscape-type contributions and service-pair relationships. The PLUS model generated 2030 land–use pathways, which were used to compare ES responses under BAU, ED, and EP scenarios. The LEAS module identified how climatic, socioeconomic, topographic, and accessibility factors contributed to land–use expansion and thereby indirectly shaped ES patterns. The results show that (1) from 1990 to 2020, food production (FP) increased with fluctuations from 16.30 to 62.06 t·km⁻², whereas water yield (WY), carbon storage (CS), soil conservation (SC), and habitat quality (HQ) declined by 27.8%, 5.7%, 27.0%, and 5.4%, respectively; (2) the five ecosystem services showed clear spatial heterogeneity, with food production characterized by high values in the central oasis plain and low values in the northern and southern parts, whereas the other four services showed a south-high/north-low gradient; forestland, grassland, and water bodies were the major landscape types supporting ecosystem-service supply; (3) ecosystem-service interactions changed dynamically: FP showed clear Pearson trade-offs with HQ and weak trade-offs with SC, whereas WY-CS, WY-SC, CS-SC, SC-HQ, WY-HQ, and CS-HQ were mainly synergistic; FP-WY and FP-CS also showed positive Pearson correlations, indicating that food-production expansion in oasis areas was partly coupled with water-resource and cropland–related carbon-storage patterns; and (4) the 2030 scenario simulations showed differentiated responses: under BAU and ED, FP remained nearly stable or slightly decreased, whereas WY, CS, SC, and HQ increased slightly; under EP, all five services improved relative to 2020, with FP, WY, CS, SC, and HQ increasing by approximately 4.08%, 2.33%, 3.13%, 9.60%, and 0.79%, respectively, making EP the most favorable pathway for enhancing ecosystem-service supply and mitigating FP-related trade-offs. The results identify where provisioning gains conflict with water, soil, carbon, and habitat functions and provide a basis for differentiated oasis management in Urumqi, Changji, Shihezi, and Wujiaqu. Full article

Moisture damage in buildings has traditionally been discussed primarily in relation to winter condensation in cold climates. In hot-humid regions, however, damage develops under different boundary conditions, including warm and humid outdoor air, frequent rainfall, air-conditioning operation, air leakage, and limited drying after wetting. Climate change is treated here as contextual background that can intensify these boundary conditions, not as the primary object of quantitative attribution. This structured narrative review synthesizes literature on climatic boundary conditions, envelope moisture response, moisture- and mold-risk assessment, microbial implications, and building adaptation. It is supplemented by illustrative climate-data analysis, global exposure mapping, and selected field examples; these components contextualize the proposed drying-deficit framework but do not constitute comprehensive validation or global risk prediction. Drying deficit is proposed as an interpretive framework for situations in which moisture supply, storage, and repeated wetting exceed available drying capacity over relevant time scales. The review identifies the need for assessment methods that account for cooling-driven gradients, airflow paths, material storage, microbial response, and occupant behavior. It also highlights adaptation strategies such as rain control, leakage reduction, vapor-open drying paths, humidity-controlled ventilation, dehumidification, moisture-tolerant materials, and integrated hygrothermal and microbial monitoring. The proposed framework requires further validation and should not be treated as a universal explanation for all moisture damage in hot-humid buildings. Full article

Highway construction in alpine environments of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QXP) raises concerns about vegetation degradation and ecosystem disruption. However, the long-term ecological dynamics along newer expressway corridors on the QXP remain insufficiently understood. This study investigated vegetation dynamics and land use/land cover (LULC) changes along the Gonghe-Yushu Expressway (G0613, 634 km) corridor from 2000 to 2025, spanning the pre-construction, construction (2011–2017), and post-construction operational periods. Using 25 years of Landsat 5/7/8/9 imagery, we analyzed NDVI trends with Sen’s slope and Mann-Kendall tests, classified LULC into four classes (Grassland, Bare land, Water body, Built-up) using Random Forest, and examined NDVI—climate relationships using TerraClimate data. The results revealed a widespread and significant greening trend, with 77.3% of pixels showing significant NDVI increases (+0.0026/year) and no significant decreasing trends. The greening was established before highway construction and continued uniformly through all periods, with no detectable distance-dependent gradient across buffer zones (0–1, 1–2, 2–5, 5–10 km). LULC transitions were limited, with Bare land and Grassland as the dominant classes in the buffer corridor. NDVI was strongly correlated with temperature (ρ = 0.748, p < 0.001), which increased by +0.068 °C/year over the study period, while precipitation showed no significant trend. These findings indicate that vegetation greening co-varied with regional warming, while no persistent distance-dependent highway-associated NDVI signal was detected at the analyzed scale. Localized roadside impacts may remain unresolved at 30 m resolution, and the long-term implications of continued warming warrant continued monitoring. Full article