On the Variation of NDVI with the Principal Climatic Elements in the Tibetan Plateau

Temperature and precipitation have been separately reported to be the main factors affecting the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the Tibetan Plateau. The effects of the main climatic factors on the yearly maximum NDVI (MNDVI) in the Tibetan Plateau were examined on different scales. The result underscored the observation that both precipitation and temperature affect MNDVI based on weather stations or physico-geographical regions. Precipitation is the main climatic factor that affects the vegetation cover in the entire Tibetan Plateau. Both annual mean precipitation and annual mean precipitation of the growing period are related with MNDVI, and the positive correlations are manifested in a linear manner. By comparison, the weakly correlated current between MNDVI and all the temperature indexes is observed in the study area.