HR: 1340h
AN: B43B-0263    [Abstracts]
TI: Satellite-based vegetation phenology and seasonal variations along a Brazilian cerrado and transition forest gradient
AU: * Ratana, P
EM: piyachat@ag.arizona.edu
AF: Terrestrial Biophysics and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, PO.Box 210038 429 Shantz Bldg. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 United States
AU: Huete, A
EM: ahuete@ag.arizona.edu
AF: Terrestrial Biophysics and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, PO.Box 210038 429 Shantz Bldg. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 United States
AB: Vegetation phenology affects energy and mass exchanges between Earth's surface and atmosphere and is critical in understanding biosphere-atmosphere interactions. Recently, satellite observations have been found to be useful in monitoring and investigating vegetation dynamics at regional and global scale. In this study, we investigated the interaction of climate and vegetation physiognomy on phenology observed along Brazilian cerrado and transition forest gradient. We extracted five years of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Vegetation Index (VI) time-series data along north-south ecoclimatic gradient in which the major factors controlling vegetation activity were rainfall and temperature. We found significant differences in phenology patterns between the cerrado and transition forests. The cerrado temporal profiles depicted very pronounced dry-wet seasonal contrast while decreasing dry-wet contrasts were observed in the transition forests with deeper rooted vegetation that had prolonged access to soil moisture. We also observed seasonal shifts in VI phenologies due to different in vegetation physiognomic response to rainfall. This yielded important phonology information useful in land cover characterization and parameterization for biosphere-climate models.
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005