Associative study of NDVI and precipitation in Indian region during monsoon season using satellite and ground measurements [2000–2013]

Abstract

Natural vegetation cover and crop yield vary spatially and temporally in a diverse manner. Understanding this variation requires a robust analysis of important climatic factors such as rainfall, temperature, sunshine hours etc., along with LULC dynamics. In this study, NDVI has been used as an indicator of vegetative greenness and productivity. Based on 0.5°×0.5° spatial resolution data of NDVI obtained from MISR, correlation between NDVI and average seasonal precipitation has been analyzed. The precipitation data used is obtained from two sources, TRMM 3B42-V7 and IMD gridded data, both at spatial resolution of 0.25°×0.25°. The TRMM and IMD data have also been mutually correlated. Data was acquired for the months of June, July, August and September (JJAS) i.e. monsoon season for 14 years, 2000 to 2013. The correlation coefficients thus obtained are reported significant at a confidence level of 99% (p<;0.001).