Published in Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering, Vol. XIII
Written by Monica SFÎRCOCI, Loredana COPĂCEAN, Luminiţa COJOCARIU
The relief is the main factor that determines the "vertical" arrangement of the vegetation. Starting from this hypothesis, the aim of the study is to quantify the influence of the altitudinal gradient on the vegetation cover of the grasslands and to test the condition of maintaining this influence over time. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used, applied to Sentinel 2 images from March, May, July, August, October. It was established that, in grasslands, the average values of NDVI are minimum in spring, beginning of the vegetation season (0.3743), increase in May (0.6775) and reach the maximum in July (0.8233 - high degree of coverage). In autumn, the vegetation cover decreases (NDVI = 0.6258). On the altitudinal gradient, in spring, vegetation cover decreases with increasing altitude (r = -0.85), in summer, it is "uniformly" distributed, and in autumn, it increases simultaneously with altitude (r = 0.5831), against the background of maintaining a temperature-precipitation ratio optimal on the upper floors. The use of NDVI in the analysis of grassland provides a global picture and the possibility of expanding the analysis in different research directions.
[Read full article] [Citation]
