Evaluating Vegetation Response to Climate Variability over Japan

Abstract

Vegetation plays a significant role in the exchange of energy, water and carbon between the atmosphere and land surface, understanding its response to climate variability is of great importance for climate adaptation studies. This study examined Seasonal June-July- August, and December-January-February(JJA and DJF) vegetation response to Temperature(T) and Rainfall(R) variability. Vegetation response to climate dynamics over Japan are still poorly understood, in other to quantify these response spatio-temporal distribution of T and R were investigated, vegetations changes was  also accessed utilizing MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from 2007-2016(10 years) along with T and R datasets from 1987-2017 (31 years), The NDVI patterns show a checked heterogeneity relating to seasonal variations in climates,  our findings further reveals Northern region record an  increasing trend in T and R, standard deviation of 0.48, 9.66, with CV of 6.63%, 9.25% respectively were recorded. Also, an increasing  trend in T and R  was equally observed in the southern region with standard deviation of 0.43, 28.5, by a CV of 2.47% and 15.05. Further analysis revealed critical patterns in the NDVI during DJF months and then afterward  NDVI was seen with critical expanding values during the JJA month and diminishing NDVI patterns were seen over similar districts. The result further made it clear that NDVI changes were highly connected to different  T and R  patterns over the region while seasonal mean NDVI showed a critical increment for JJA in the North and DJA in the south.