干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Precipitation is one of the most important factors for growth of plants especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, we show that vegetation in the arid and semi-arid Gobi region is sensitive to the dynamics of precipitation. Using satellite imagery we analyzed the space-time features of seasonal vegetation evolution and anomaly patterns from 1985 to 2013. Cross correlation analysis was used to evaluate the response of vegetation to precipitation. We found that vegetation in low precipitation areas such as around Gansu in China was degraded than that in high precipitation areas.