Assessing vegetation variability and trends in north-eastern Brazil using AVHRR and MODIS NDVI time series

Abstract

Desertification is a challenge in north-eastern Brazil (NEB) that needs to be understood to develop sustainable land-use strategies. This study analyses regional vegetation dynamics in NEB and the compatibility of two NDVI data sets to support future desertification assessment studies in the semi-arid Caatinga biome. Vegetation variability and trends in NEB are analysed for 1982-2006, based on monthly AVHRR (GIMMS) NDVI data. The GIMMS data are compared with MODIS NDVI for the overlapping period 2001-2006. Existing statistical methods are applied and existing NDVI analyses in NEB expanded in respect to vegetation trend analysis and data set comparison.