Contrasting Effects of Temperature and Precipitation on Vegetation Greenness along Elevation Gradients of the Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is one of the most sensitive regions to global climate warming, not only at the inter-annual time scale but also at the altitudinal scale. We aim to investigate the contrasting effects of temperature and precipitation on vegetation greenness at different altitudes across the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2020-09, Vol.12 (17), p.2751
Main Authors: Wang, Yan, Peng, Dailiang, Shen, Miaogen, Xu, Xiyan, Yang, Xiaohua, Huang, Wenjiang, Yu, Le, Liu, Liangyun, Li, Cunjun, Li, Xinwu, Zheng, Shijun, Zhang, Helin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change
Datasets
elevational variation
Global climate
Global warming
Growing season
isoline
Normalized difference vegetative index
Precipitation
Rain
Regions
Remote sensing
Seasons
sensitivity
temperature
Temperature effects
Vegetation
vegetation greenness
Vegetation index
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Summary:The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is one of the most sensitive regions to global climate warming, not only at the inter-annual time scale but also at the altitudinal scale. We aim to investigate the contrasting effects of temperature and precipitation on vegetation greenness at different altitudes across the TP. In this study, interannual and elevational characteristics of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), temperature, and precipitation were examined during the growing season from 1982 to 2015. We compared the elevational movement rates of the isolines of NDVI, temperature, and precipitation, and the sensitivities of elevational NDVI changes to temperature and precipitation. The results show that from 1982 to 2015, the elevational variation rate of isolines for NDVI mismatched with that for temperature and precipitation. The elevational movements of NDVI isolines were mostly controlled by precipitation at elevations below 2400 m and by the temperature at elevations above 2400 m. Precipitation appears to plays a role similar to temperature, and even a more effective role than the temperature at low elevations, in controlling elevational vegetation greenness changes at both spatial and interannual scales in the TP. This study highlights the regulation of temperature and precipitation on vegetation ecosystems along elevation gradients over the whole TP under global warming conditions.
ISSN:2072-4292
2072-4292
DOI:10.3390/rs12172751