466 publications from this institution
Normalized difference vegetation index data obtained from polar-orbiting meteorological satellites were used to compare the growing or rainy seasons of 1984 and 1985 for the Sahelian zone of Africa. A substantial difference was found between these two years, with 1985 generally having higher normalized difference vegetation index values indicating higher levels of primary production in 1985 than in 1984. 1 km data were compared for Senegal, Mali, Niger and Sudan, and 7 km data were compared for sub-Saharan Africa. The qualitative comparison of these data suggests the use of similar data to assist in centralized monitoring of rangeland conditions, to identify areas of deficiencies in primary production and provide synoptic information in support of regional drought monitoring
Meteorological satellite data from 1982 to 1990 were used to identify areas of significant association between tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) and remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) anomalies, here taken as a surrogate for rainfall anomalies. During this period, large areas of arid and semi‐arid Africa, Australia and South America experienced NDVI anomalies directly correlated to tropical Pacific SST anomalies. The results are limited by the relatively short time period of analysis. However, they confirm the disruptive effects of large‐scale tropical Pacific SST variations on arid and semiarid continental rainfall patterns in Africa, Australia, and South America, as reported previously.
