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Recent Change of Vegetation Growth Trend in ChinaUsing satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data, several previous studies have indicated that vegetation growth significantly increased in most areas of China during the period 1982-99. In this letter, we extended the study period to 2010. We found that at the national scale the growing season (April-October) NDVI significantly increased by 0.0007/yr from 1982 to 2010, but the increasing trend in NDVI over the last decade decreased in comparison to that of the 1982-99 period. The trends in NDVI show significant seasonal and spatial variances. The increasing trend in April and May (AM) NDVI (0.0013/yr is larger than those in June, July and August (JJA) (0.0003/yr) and September and October (SO) (0.0008/yr). This relatively small increasing trend of JJA NDVI during 1982-2010 compared with that during 1982-99 (0.0012/yr) (Piao et al 2003 J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos. 108 4401) implies a change in the JJA vegetation growth trend, which significantly turned from increasing (0.0039/yr) to slightly decreasing (0:0002/yr) in 1988. Regarding the spatial pattern of changes in NDVI, the growing season NDVI increased (over 0.0020/yr) from 1982 to 2010 in southern China, while its change was close to zero in northern China, as a result of a significant changing trend reversal that occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s. In northern China, the growing season NDVI significantly increased before the 1990s as a result of warming and enhanced precipitation, but decreased after the 1990s due to drought stress strengthened by warming and reduced precipitation. Our results also show that the responses of vegetation growth to climate change vary across different seasons and ecosystems.
Document ID
20120010512
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Peng, Shushi
(Peking Univ. Beijing, China)
Chen, Anping
(Princeton Univ. Princeton, NJ, United States)
Xu, Liang
(Boston Univ. Boston, MA, United States)
Cao, Chunxiang
(Academia Sinica Beijing, China)
Fang, Jingyun
(Peking Univ. Beijing, China)
Myneni, Ranga B.
(Boston Univ. Boston, MA, United States)
Pinzon, Jorge E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Tucker, COmpton J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Piao, Shilong
(Peking Univ. Beijing, China)
Date Acquired
August 26, 2013
Publication Date
December 22, 2011
Publication Information
Publication: Environmental Research Letters
Volume: 6
Issue: 4
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.00434.2012
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NBR 2010CB950601
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNSF 30970511
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNSF 41125004
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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