Satellite Monitoring of Vegetation Response to Precipitation and Dust Storm Outbreaks in Gobi Desert Regions

Yuki Sofue, Buho Hoshino, Yuta Demura, Kenji Kai, Kenji Baba, Eunice Nduati, Akihiko Kondoh and Troy Sternberg
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Yuki Sofue: The Graduate School of Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Buho Hoshino: College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Sciences, Rakuno Gakuen University, Ebetsu 069-8501, Japan
Yuta Demura: Field Researchers Corporation Co., Ltd., Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0007, Japan
Kenji Kai: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
Kenji Baba: College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Sciences, Rakuno Gakuen University, Ebetsu 069-8501, Japan
Eunice Nduati: The Graduate School of Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Akihiko Kondoh: The Graduate School of Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Troy Sternberg: School of Geography University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK

Land, 2018, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Recently, droughts have become widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, including in Mongolia. The ground surface condition, particularly vegetation coverage, affects the occurrence of dust storms. The main sources of dust storms in the Asian region are the Taklimakan and Mongolian Gobi desert regions. In these regions, precipitation is one of the most important factors for growth of plants especially in arid and semi-arid land. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between precipitation and vegetation cover dynamics over 29 years in the Gobi region. We compared the patterns between precipitation and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for a period of 29 years. The precipitation and vegetation datasets were examined to investigate the trends during 1985–2013. Cross correlation analysis between the precipitation and the NDVI anomalies was performed. Data analysis showed that the variations of NDVI anomalies in the east region correspond well with the precipitation anomalies during this period. However, in the southwest region of the Gobi region, the NDVI had decreased regardless of the precipitation amount, especially since 2010. This result showed that vegetation in this region was more degraded than in the other areas.

Keywords: vegetation response to precipitation; dust storm outbreak; cross correlation analysis; the Hovmoller diagram; environmental regime shift; Gobi desert of Mongolia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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