Vegetation Greening Trends at Two Sites in the Canadian Arctic: 1984–2015. Issue 4 (1st November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Edwards, Rebecca; Treitz, Paul
• Is Part Of: Arctic, antarctic, and alpine research. Volume 49:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 601
• Page End: 619
• Publication Date: 2017-11-01
• Subjects: Polar regions -- Periodicals; Alpine regions -- Periodicals; Alpine regions; Cold Climate; Arctic Regions; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 570.998
• DOI: 10.1657/AAAR0016-075
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1523-0430

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study examined vegetation greening at two arctic sites: the Apex River Watershed (ARW), Baffin Island, Nunavut (a Low Arctic site) and the Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory (CBAWO), Melville Island, Nunavut (a High Arctic site). The vegetation at both study sites was characterized using a supervised land-cover classification approach using high spatial resolution satellite remote sensing data (i.e., IKONOS [4 m] and WorldView-2 [2 m]). Meanwhile, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data spanning the past 30 years were derived from intermediate spatial resolution data (i.e., Landsat TM/ETM/OLI [30 m]). The land-cover classifications were used to partition the Landsat NDVI time series by vegetation type. Climate variables (i.e., temperature, precipitation, and growing season length [GSL]) were examined to explore potential relationships of NDVI to climate warming trends. The results of the land-cover classifications demonstrated inherent trends of vegetation types along elevation and moisture gradients. The NDVI time series for the CBAWO (1985–2015) demonstrated an overall significant increase in greening, specifically in the dry and mesic vegetation types. Conversely, similar greening (overall or by vegetation type) was not observed for the ARW (1984–2015). Based on climate data from the nearest permanent weather station (Mould Bay, Nunavut), the overall increase in NDVI at the CBAWO was largely attributed to a significant increase in July temperatures and GSL.