Using MODIS data to study the relation between climatic spatial variability and vegetation phenology in northern high latitudes

Author

Zhang, Xiaoyang ; Friedl, Mark A. ; Schaaf, Crystal B. ; Strahler, Alan H. ; Hodges, John C F ; Gao, Feng

Author_Institution

Dept. of Geogr., Boston Univ., MA, USA

Volume

2

fYear

2002

fDate

24-28 June 2002

Firstpage

1149

Abstract

We investigated methods to identify phenological transition dates and the linkage between phenology and spatial climatic variation in North America between 30.5°N and 70°N utilizing Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. The results show a clear trend in which vegetation greenup gradually migrated northward from 38°N to 70°N starting in late March, and dormancy spread southward from late September. The observed pattern in phenology was significantly associated with both mean annual temperature and incoming solar radiation. Spatial analysis revealed that the date of greenup advanced by roughly 2.4 days, while the onset of dormancy was delayed by 1.8 days, for each one-degree increase in mean annual temperature.

Keywords

climatology; vegetation mapping; MODIS data; Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer; North America; incoming solar radiation; mean annual temperature; northern high latitudes; phenological transition dates; phenology; spatial analysis; spatial climatic variation; vegetation dormancy; vegetation greenup; Couplings; Extraterrestrial measurements; Land surface; Land surface temperature; Logistics; MODIS; Remote monitoring; Snow; Solar radiation; Vegetation mapping;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2002. IGARSS '02. 2002 IEEE International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7536-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2002.1025804

Filename

1025804