The relationship analysis of vegetation cover, rainfall and land surface temperature based on remote sensing in Tibet, China

The analyses of vegetation influenced by meteorological factors contribute to research the relationships between terrestrial ecosystems and climate changes. Using the data of normalized difference vegetation index, land surface temperature from MODIS satellite products and rainfall from TRMM satellite products to build 16-day data sequence from 2000 to 2011 years, this paper analyzed the spatial-temporal distribution of vegetation cover, land surface temperature and rainfall, and also discussed the relationships among three factors in Tibet. The results indicated that the mean vegetation coverage in August varied in the range of 0% to 99% depending on location. The southeastern part of Tibet had annual rainfall of 600~800 mm, whereas the western part suffered from drought with a value below 200 mm. The mean annual land surface temperature varied between −8.9°C and 16.3°C. During the whole year, the correlation coefficient between vegetation index and land surface temperature was the smallest in July. The correlation coefficient between vegetation index and rainfall was the biggest in September. Vegetation was influenced greater by the rainfall than land surface temperature from April to October in Tibet.