Drought-Induced Vegetation Variation Across Land Biomes in Northern Hemisphere from 2001 to 2012

Abstract:

This study uses the The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) dataset and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) from 2001 to 2012 to detect the vegetation variation caused by droughts in the Northern Hemisphere. A partial correlation coefficient method is used to detect the drought effects on plant growth in association with the consideration of the temperature and solar radiation influence. The results reveal that the vegetation in the arid regions can respond to droughts at short time-scales, and it is most likely that there are some mechanisms allowing the plant species in arid regions to rapidly adapt to changing water availability. The plant species in humid regions can respond droughts shortly. Further, the respond time of the plants in semiarid and subhumid regions to droughts is long, probably because the plants are able to bear water shortage but response to droughts slowly.