Tracking effects of extreme drought on coniferous forests from space using dynamic habitat indices.

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial ecosystems such as coniferous forests in Central Europe are experiencing changes in health status following extreme droughts compounding with severe heat waves. The increasing temporal resolution and spatial coverage of earth observation data offer new opportunities to assess these dynamics. Dense time-series of optical satellite data allow for computing Dynamic Habitat Indices (DHIs), which have been predominantly used in biodiversity studies. However, DHIs cover three aspects of vegetation changes that could be affected by drought: annual productivity, minimum cover, and seasonality. Here, we evaluate the health status of coniferous forests in the federal state of Hesse in Germany over the period 2017-2020 including the severe drought year of 2018 using DHIs based on the Norm

SUBMITTER: Safaei M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10981029 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature