A new estimate of tundra-biome phytomass from trans-Arctic field data and AVHRR NDVI
- 1 September 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Remote Sensing Letters
- Vol. 3 (5), 403-411
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2011.609188
Abstract
It is often assumed that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can be equated to aboveground plant biomass, but such a relationship has never been quantified at a global biome scale. We sampled aboveground plant biomass (phytomass) at representative zonal sites along two trans-Arctic transects, one in North America and one in Eurasia, and compared these data to satellite-derived NDVI. The results showed a remarkably strong correlation between total aboveground phytomass sampled at the peak of summer and the maximum annual NDVI (R 2 = 0.94, p < 0.001). The relationship was almost identical for the North America and Eurasia transects. The NDVI–phytomass relationship was used to make an aboveground phytomass map of the tundra biome. The approach uses a new and more accurate NDVI data set for the Arctic (GIMMS3g) and a sampling protocol that employs consistent methods for site selection, clip harvest and sorting and weighing of plant material. Extrapolation of the results to zonal landscape-level phytomass estimates provides valuable data for monitoring and modelling tundra vegetation.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Circumpolar Arctic Tundra Vegetation Change Is Linked to Sea Ice DeclineEarth Interactions, 2010
- Evaluation of earth observation based long term vegetation trends — Intercomparing NDVI time series trend analysis consistency of Sahel from AVHRR GIMMS, Terra MODIS and SPOT VGT dataRemote Sensing of Environment, 2009
- Remote Sensing of Arctic Vegetation: Relations between the NDVI, Spatial Resolution and Vegetation Cover on Boothia Peninsula, NunavutARCTIC, 2009
- Multi-platform comparisons of MODIS and AVHRR normalized difference vegetation index dataRemote Sensing of Environment, 2005
- Satellite-observed photosynthetic trends across boreal North America associated with climate and fire disturbanceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2005
- Relationship between AVHRR surface temperature and NDVI in Arctic tundra ecosystemsInternational Journal of Remote Sensing, 2005
- Greening of arctic Alaska, 1981–2001Geophysical Research Letters, 2003
- Relations between AVHRR NDVI and ecoclimatic parameters in ChinaInternational Journal of Remote Sensing, 2002
- Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991Nature, 1997
- Phenomenological Models of the Primary Productivity of Zonal Arctic EcosystemsPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1997