Why Is Remote Sensing of Amazon Forest Greenness So Challenging

The prevalence of clouds and aerosols and their impact on satellite-measured greenness levels of forests in southern and central Amazonia are explored in this article using 10 years of NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) greenness data: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI). During the wet season (October-March), cloud contamination of greenness data is pervasive;

[1]  C. Tucker.  Red and photographic infrared linear combinations for monitoring vegetation , 1979 .

[2]  B. Holben.  Characteristics of maximum-value composite images from temporal AVHRR data , 1986 .

[3]  Didier Tanré,et al.  Atmospherically resistant vegetation index (ARVI) for EOS-MODIS , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[4]  Ranga B. Myneni,et al.  The interpretation of spectral vegetation indexes , 1995, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[5]  R. Myneni,et al.  The interpretation of spectral vegetation indexes , 1995 .

[6]  Alan H. Strahler,et al.  The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS): land remote sensing for global change research , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[7]  J. Martins,et al.  Large-scale aerosol source apportionment in Amazonia , 1998 .

[8]  Thomas F. Eck,et al.  Measurements of irradiance attenuation and estimation of aerosol single scattering albedo for biomass burning aerosols in Amazonia , 1998 .

[9]  G. Asner,et al.  Satellite observation of El Niño effects on Amazon Forest phenology and productivity , 2000 .

[10]  C. Justice,et al.  Atmospheric correction of MODIS data in the visible to middle infrared: first results , 2002 .

[11]  Thomas F. Eck,et al.  Atmospheric effects on insolation in the Brazilian Amazon: Observed modification of solar radiation by clouds and smoke and derived single scattering albedo of fire aerosols , 2002 .

[12]  A. Huete,et al.  Overview of the radiometric and biophysical performance of the MODIS vegetation indices , 2002 .

[13]  M. Andreae,et al.  Physical and chemical properties of aerosols in the wet and dry seasons in Rondônia, Amazonia , 2002 .

[14]  Thomas F. Eck,et al.  Observed reductions of total solar irradiance by biomass‐burning aerosols in the Brazilian Amazon and Zambian Savanna , 2002 .

[15]  H. C. Gurgel,et al.  Annual and interannual variability of NDVI in Brazil and its connections with climate , 2003 .

[16]  Alfredo Huete,et al.  Assessing the seasonal dynamics of the Brazilian Cerrado vegetation through the use of spectral vegetation indices , 2004 .

[17]  Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro,et al.  Comparative study of the 1982–1983 and 1997–1998 El Niño events over different types of vegetation in South America , 2004 .

[18]  D. Sims,et al.  Potential of MODIS EVI and surface temperature for directly estimating per‐pixel ecosystem C fluxes , 2005 .

[19]  Stuart E. Marsh,et al.  Multi-sensor NDVI data continuity: Uncertainties and implications for vegetation monitoring applications , 2006 .

[20]  Xiangming Xiao,et al.  Detecting leaf phenology of seasonally moist tropical forests in South America with multi-temporal MODIS images , 2006 .

[21]  Rasmus Fensholt,et al.  Evaluating MODIS, MERIS, and VEGETATION vegetation indices using in situ measurements in a semiarid environment , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[22]  A. Huete,et al.  Amazon rainforests green‐up with sunlight in dry season , 2006 .

[23]  A. Huete,et al.  Amazon Forests Green-Up During 2005 Drought , 2007, Science.

[24]  D. Roy,et al.  Large seasonal swings in leaf area of Amazon rainforests , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[25]  Y. Shimabukuro,et al.  Spatial patterns and fire response of recent Amazonian droughts , 2007 .

[26]  Lorraine A. Remer,et al.  Reversal of trend of biomass burning in the Amazon , 2007 .

[27]  Eric Vermote,et al.  Atmospheric correction for the monitoring of land surfaces , 2008 .

[28]  W. Oechel,et al.  A new model of gross primary productivity for North American ecosystems based solely on the enhanced vegetation index and land surface temperature from MODIS , 2008 .

[29]  S. Ganguly,et al.  Amazon forests did not green‐up during the 2005 drought , 2009 .

[30]  Stephen Plummer,et al.  Impact of atmospheric aerosol from biomass burning on Amazon dry-season drought , 2009 .

[31]  Maosheng Zhao,et al.  Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009 , 2010, Science.

[32]  Damien Sulla-Menashe,et al.  MODIS Collection 5 global land cover: Algorithm refinements and characterization of new datasets , 2010 .

[33]  R. Dickinson,et al.  Seasonal changes in leaf area of Amazon forests from leaf flushing and abscission , 2011 .

[34]  B. Medlyn,et al.  Comment on “Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009” , 2011, Science.

[35]  S. Ganguly,et al.  Widespread decline in greenness of Amazonian vegetation due to the 2010 drought , 2011 .

[36]  Arindam Samanta,et al.  MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index data do not show greening of Amazon forests during the 2005 drought. , 2011, The New phytologist.