NDVI, temperature and precipitation variables and their relationships in Hainan island from 2001 to 2014 based on MODIS NDVI

Abstract

In this paper, we analyzed inter-annual variations of NDVI and their relationship with climate variables (temperature and precipitation) between 2001 and 2014 in Hainan island. Temporal response characteristics of NDVI-temperature and NDVI-precipitation was analyzed in spring, summer, autumn and winter based on the MODIS NDVI data and daily temperature and precipitation data from 2001 to 2014. The result indicated that the monthly and seasonal NDVI increased significantly over the study period. The mean monthly NDVI reached maximum value in August, and the mean monthly NDVI value was 0.785. The appearance of the largest mean monthly NDVI trend (February) lagged behind that of the largest temperature (May) trend by three months. The response of vegetation NDVI to temperature was more pronounced than to precipitation in the whole year. The maximum response of NDVI to the variation of temperature on the whole had not lag, while the maximum response of NDVI to the variation of precipitation had a lag of about 48 days.