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Changes in Landscape Greenness: Anthropogenic or Natural: Proof of Concept, Selected Study Areas
Citation:
Nash, M. AND D. Meadows. Changes in Landscape Greenness: Anthropogenic or Natural: Proof of Concept, Selected Study Areas. Presented at The Effects of Climate Change: US EPA, Washington, DC, November 17 - 21, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
Present New Mexico (detecting greenness (NDVI*) changes as related to climatic factors) over 18 years (1989-2006). Demonstrate the applicability of model that used in New Mexico to other study areas (as Proof of Concept)
Description:
We selected four National Forest areas that span east to west of USA to conduct the study over the 25-year period from 1989 through 2013: GWJ (Virginia), Chatt-O (Georgia), Kisatchie (Louisiana), Hemlock Restoration (California). The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), can be used as a means to monitor vegetation. NDVI data is per 1 km2 pixel. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), can be used as a means to monitor vegetation. NDVI data is per 1 km2 pixel. We used five climate variables, monthly averages of precipitation, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and dew point temperature. (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM; http://www.prism.oregonstate.edu/products/matrix.phtml, accessed March 2012). PRISM 4-km2 grid cells and were gridded into 1-km2 grid cells using the inverse distance weighted method in ARC-GIS 9.3.1 (ESRI, Redlands, California) to match the NDVI resolution. For the model, we used the monthly NDVI, which is the maximum NDVI value of the biweekly NDVI derived by applying MapAlgebra in ARC-GIS 9.3.1.