Publication details

Environment, vegetation and greenness (NDVI) along the North America and Eurasia Arctic transects

Authors	WALKER D A EPSTEIN Harold E RAYNOLDS Martha K KUSS Patrick KOPECKÝ Martin FROST G V DANIELS Fred J A LEIBMAN Marina O MOSKALENKO N G MATYSHAK G V KHITUN O V KHOMUTOV A V FORBES Bruce C BHATT U S KADE Anja N VONLANTHEN C M TICHÝ Lubomír
Year of publication	2012
Type	Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source	ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
MU Faculty or unit	Faculty of Science
Citation
Doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/015504
Field	Botany
Keywords	AVHRR; bioclimate; biomass; climate change; Eurasia Arctic transect; JUICE; leaf area index (LAI); normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI); North America Arctic transect; summer warmth index; tundra
Description	Satellite-based measurements of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI; an index of vegetation greenness and photosynthetic capacity) indicate that tundra environments are generally greening and becoming more productive as climates warm in the Arctic. The greening, however, varies and is even negative in some parts of the Arctic. To help interpret the space-based observations, the International Polar Year (IPY) Greening of the Arctic project conducted ground-based surveys along two 1500 km transects that span all Arctic bioclimate subzones. Here we summarize the climate, soil, vegetation, biomass, and spectral information collected from the North America Arctic transect (NAAT), which has a more continental climate, and the Eurasia Arctic transect (EAT), which has a more oceanic climate. The transects have broadly similar summer temperature regimes and overall vegetation physiognomy, but strong differences in precipitation, especially winter precipitation, soil texture and pH, disturbance regimes, and plant species composition and structure. The results indicate that summer warmth and NDVI increased more strongly along the more continental transect.