Spatio-temporal patterns of the area experiencing negative vegetation growth anomalies in China over the last three decades

Extreme climatic events like droughts, floods, heat waves and ice storms impact ecosystems as well as human societies. There is wide concern about how terrestrial ecosystems respond to extreme climatic events in the context of global warming. In this study, we used satellite-derived vegetation greenness data (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI), in situ weather station data (temperature and precipitation) and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) to analyze the spatio-temporal change of the area experiencing vegetation greenness anomalies and extreme climatic events in China from 1982 to 2009. At the national scale, we found that China experienced an increasing trend in heat waves and drought events during the study period. The average fraction of climate stations with drought events (defined by growing season PDSI < −2) detected increased from 8% in the 1980s, to nearly 20% in the 2000s, at a rate of 0.6% yr−1 (R2 = 0.61, P < 0.001). In contrast, the area showing negative anomalies of vegetation greenness decreased at the rate of 0.9% yr−1 from 1982 to 2009 (R2 = 0.29, P = 0.003), although this trend stalled or reversed during the 2000s, particularly in northern China. The decrease in vegetation growth during the last decade over northern China was accompanied by the increase in extreme drought events in the 2000s. In southern China, although both precipitation and PDSI data suggest a greater area experiencing drought events during the 2000s than in the 1980s, the area showing negative vegetation greenness decreased consistently during the whole study period.