Differences between cropland and rangeland MODIS phenology (start-of-season) in Mali

Start-of-season data are more and more used to qualify the land surface phenology trends in relation with climate variability and, more rarely, with human land management. In this paper, we compared the phenology of rangeland vs cropped land in the Sahel belt of Africa, using the only currently available global phenology product (MODIS MCD12Q2 – Land Cover Dynamics Yearly), and an enhanced crop mask of Mali. The differences in terms of start-of-season (SOS) are spatially (north south gradient), and temporally (10 years, 2001–2009) analyzed in bioclimatic terms. Our results show that globally the MODIS MCD12Q2 SOS dates of croplands and rangelands differ, and that these differences depend on the bioclimatic zone.