IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v9y2020i1p15-d307143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hydrological Control of Vegetation Greenness Dynamics in Africa: A Multivariate Analysis Using Satellite Observed Soil Moisture, Terrestrial Water Storage and Precipitation

Author

Listed:
  • Sabastine Ugbemuna Ugbaje

    (School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Thomas F.A. Bishop

    (Sydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia)

Abstract

Vegetation activity in many parts of Africa is constrained by dynamics in the hydrologic cycle. Using satellite products, the relative importance of soil moisture, rainfall, and terrestrial water storage (TWS) on vegetation greenness seasonality and anomaly over Africa were assessed for the period between 2003 and 2015. The possible delayed response of vegetation to water availability was considered by including 0–6 and 12 months of the hydrological variables lagged in time prior to the vegetation greenness observations. Except in the drylands, the relationship between vegetation greenness seasonality and the hydrological measures was generally strong across Africa. Contrarily, anomalies in vegetation greenness were generally less coupled to anomalies in water availability, except in some parts of eastern and southern Africa where a moderate relationship was evident. Soil moisture was the most important variable driving vegetation greenness in more than 50% of the areas studied, followed by rainfall when seasonality was considered, and by TWS when the monthly anomalies were used. Soil moisture and TWS were generally concurrent or lagged vegetation by 1 month, whereas precipitation lagged vegetation by 1–2 months. Overall, the results underscore the pre-eminence of soil moisture as an indicator of vegetation greenness among satellite measured hydrological variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabastine Ugbemuna Ugbaje & Thomas F.A. Bishop, 2020. "Hydrological Control of Vegetation Greenness Dynamics in Africa: A Multivariate Analysis Using Satellite Observed Soil Moisture, Terrestrial Water Storage and Precipitation," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:1:p:15-:d:307143
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/1/15/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/1/15/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tomislav Hengl & Gerard B M Heuvelink & Bas Kempen & Johan G B Leenaars & Markus G Walsh & Keith D Shepherd & Andrew Sila & Robert A MacMillan & Jorge Mendes de Jesus & Lulseged Tamene & Jérôme E Tond, 2015. "Mapping Soil Properties of Africa at 250 m Resolution: Random Forests Significantly Improve Current Predictions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-26, June.
    2. Martin Heimann & Markus Reichstein, 2008. "Terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics and climate feedbacks," Nature, Nature, vol. 451(7176), pages 289-292, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pinki Mondal & Sonali Shukla McDermid, 2021. "Editorial for Special Issue: “Global Vegetation and Land Surface Dynamics in a Changing Climate”," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-4, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jing Wang & Xuesong Wang & Fenli Zheng & Hanmei Wei & Miaomiao Zhao & Jianyu Jiao, 2023. "Ecoenzymatic Stoichiometry Reveals Microbial Carbon and Phosphorus Limitations under Elevated CO 2 , Warming and Drought at Different Winter Wheat Growth Stages," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Richard Mind’je & Lanhai Li & Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva & Christophe Mupenzi & Enan Muhire Nyesheja & Patient Mindje Kayumba & Aboubakar Gasirabo & Egide Hakorimana, 2020. "Landslide susceptibility and influencing factors analysis in Rwanda," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 7985-8012, December.
    3. Huang, Suo & Bartlett, Paul & Arain, M. Altaf, 2016. "An analysis of global terrestrial carbon, water and energy dynamics using the carbon–nitrogen coupled CLASS-CTEMN+ model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 336(C), pages 36-56.
    4. Akpoti, Komlavi & Groen, Thomas & Dossou-Yovo, Elliott & Kabo-bah, Amos T. & Zwart, Sander J., 2022. "Climate change-induced reduction in agricultural land suitability of West-Africa's inland valley landscapes," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Dongyang Xiao & Haipeng Niu & Jin Guo & Suxia Zhao & Liangxin Fan, 2021. "Carbon Storage Change Analysis and Emission Reduction Suggestions under Land Use Transition: A Case Study of Henan Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, February.
    6. Miao Yu & Guiling Wang & Dana Parr & Kazi Ahmed, 2014. "Future changes of the terrestrial ecosystem based on a dynamic vegetation model driven with RCP8.5 climate projections from 19 GCMs," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 257-271, November.
    7. Amirhossein Hassani & Adisa Azapagic & Nima Shokri, 2021. "Global predictions of primary soil salinization under changing climate in the 21st century," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    8. Huang, Suo & Arain, M. Altaf & Arora, Vivek K. & Yuan, Fengming & Brodeur, Jason & Peichl, Matthias, 2011. "Analysis of nitrogen controls on carbon and water exchanges in a conifer forest using the CLASS-CTEMN+ model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(20), pages 3743-3760.
    9. Mur, Ruben Javier & Goetz, Renan-Ulrich & Xabadia, Angels & Córdoba, Francesc & Gracia, Carles, 2014. "Adapting the optimal selective-logging of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands in NE Spain to increasing CO2 concentrations," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 286-304.
    10. Furui Xi & Gang Lin & Yanan Zhao & Xiang Li & Zhiyu Chen & Chenglong Cao, 2023. "Land Use Optimization and Carbon Storage Estimation in the Yellow River Basin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    11. Rosemary-Claire Collard & Jessica Dempsey, 2013. "Life for Sale? The Politics of Lively Commodities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(11), pages 2682-2699, November.
    12. Braakhekke, Maarten C. & Beer, Christian & Hoosbeek, Marcel R. & Reichstein, Markus & Kruijt, Bart & Schrumpf, Marion & Kabat, Pavel, 2011. "SOMPROF: A vertically explicit soil organic matter model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(10), pages 1712-1730.
    13. Birhanu Iticha & Muhammad Kamran & Rui Yan & Dorota Siuta & Abdulrahman Al-Hashimi & Chalsissa Takele & Fayisa Olana & Bożena Kukfisz & Shehzad Iqbal & Mohamed S. Elshikh, 2022. "The Role of Digital Soil Information in Assisting Precision Soil Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-13, September.
    14. Meyer, Maximilian & Hulke, Carolin & Kamwi, Jonathan & Kolem, Hannah & Börner, Jan, 2022. "Spatially heterogeneous effects of collective action on environmental dependence in Namibia’s Zambezi region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    15. Moriarty, Patrick & Honnery, Damon, 2011. "Is there an optimum level for renewable energy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2748-2753, May.
    16. Masoud Zolfaghari Nia & Mostafa Moradi & Gholamhosein Moradi & Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi, 2022. "Machine Learning Models for Prediction of Soil Properties in the Riparian Forests," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Tanusri Dey & Dinesha S & Manendra Singh & Arshad A & Mendup Tamang & Shahina N N & Arun Jyoti Nath & Gopal Shukla & Sumit Chakravarty, 2023. "Prioritizing Tree-Based Systems for Optimizing Carbon Sink in the Indian Sub-Himalayan Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-25, May.
    18. Calogero Carletto, 2021. "Better data, higher impact: improving agricultural data systems for societal change [Correlated non-classical measurement errors, ‘second best’ policy inference, and the inverse size-productivity r," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(4), pages 719-740.
    19. Fuat Kaya & Gaurav Mishra & Rosa Francaviglia & Ali Keshavarzi, 2023. "Combining Digital Covariates and Machine Learning Models to Predict the Spatial Variation of Soil Cation Exchange Capacity," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, April.
    20. Sawadogo, Alidou & Dossou-Yovo, Elliott R. & Kouadio, Louis & Zwart, Sander J. & Traoré, Farid & Gündoğdu, Kemal S., 2023. "Assessing the biophysical factors affecting irrigation performance in rice cultivation using remote sensing derived information," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:1:p:15-:d:307143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.