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Lennart Olsson, LUCSUS

Lennart Olsson

Professor, Docent

Lennart Olsson, LUCSUS

Vegetation index trends for the African Sahel 1982-1999

Author

  • Lars Eklundh
  • Lennart Olsson

Summary, in English

[1] Pathfinder AVHRR NDVI data have been analyzed for the African Sahel to study recent trends in vegetation greenness. A strong increase in seasonal NDVI was observed over large areas in the Sahel during the period 1982-1999. The increase is interpreted as a vegetation recovery from the drought periods of the 1980's. Although strong shifts in satellite overpass times have led to shifting solar zenith angles (SZA) over the time period, only minimal influence of SZA's on the Pathfinder NDVI was found in our data. A preliminary analysis of rainfall data indicates increasing rainfall during the period. The observed trends may have important implications to the Sahel including changes to the water cycle, energy exchange and carbon storage.

Department/s

  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)

Publishing year

2003

Language

English

Pages

1430-1433

Publication/Series

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

30

Issue

8

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Topic

  • Physical Geography

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1944-8007