To demonstrate the interannual relationship between weather and vegetation, correlation coefficients of 10-year (1986-1995) interannual change between satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and air temperature; NDVI and precipitation; and NDVI and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in summer season were mapped at a global scale.

Ecosystem-weather link map The positive part of the correlation coefficients of 10-year interannual changes between NDVI and air temperature; NDVI and precipitation; and NDVI and PAR in warm season were plotted on a global map. Strong positive correlations between NDVI and air temperature are found in high latitude region, while strong correlations between NDVI and precipitation are found in mid and low latitude regions. The correlation coefficient between NDVI and PAR is relatively high over the region with high cloudiness.

Linking map of the land ecosystem Region global Spatial resolution 2 degrees

Reference

• Suzuki, R. (2007): Preliminary analysis on interannual response of global NDVI for precipitation, temperature, and radiation. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Global Change: Connection to the Arctic (GCCA-7), Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, February 19-20, 2007, 293-296.

Version History

• Ver. 1.0: Released 2008-01-10.
• Ver. 1.1: Released 2009-09-01: Revised from Ver.1.0.

• Global vegetation index data
Twenty-year Global 4-minute AVHRR NDVI Dataset of Chiba University (in Japanese)
• Japan vegetation index data
• Global meteorological data
Air temperature, precipitation, photosynthetically active radiation (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Initiative II)