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A new method called Derivation and Threshold Approach (DATA) was developed to estimate the onset of vegetation green-up (OVG) for the Mongolian Plateau from 1982 to 1990. The estimates of OVG date were highly correlated with geographic patterns and climatic variations across time and space within our study area. The date of OVG was earliest for the forest and meadow steppe, later for the typical steppe, and latest for the desert steppe. Our findings also showed that ecosystems in the Mongolian Plateau exhibited high spatiotemporal variability in the date of OVG during the study period. The date of onset was found to be most consistent for the forest ecosystem, while the desert steppe was characterized by high year-to-year variations in onset date. A comparison of the derived OVG date estimates with meteorological data showed a clear linkage between onset date and the beginning of spring precipitation in the dry region of the Mongolian Plateau.