The Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Remotely-sensed Vegetation Phenology in Central Asia in the 1982-2011 Period

An understanding of present and past vegetation dynamics is essential to future reaction strategies to climate change, especially in developing regions. This study seeks to widen such knowledge by utilizing remotely-sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data to compute phenology metrics for Central Asia in the 1982-2011 period. Spatial and temporal analysis was performed for nine phenological metrics and for subregions with consistent vegetation dynamics. A general increase of biomass was disclosed, except in bare deserts, and the growing season appears to be starting earlier. Despite of the dominant greening trend, deserts show inverse dynamics, possibly a sign of rising aridity