Application of Land Measurements for Detection of Climate Change Impact on Vegetation Dynamics, Kermanshah Province, Iran

Vegetation is an important component of terrestrial ecosystems whose changes are controlled by climate changes and human activities. In order to detect the climate change impact on vegetation dynamics of Kermanshah province, Iran, this study was conducted using multi-time images of NDVI and EVI regarded as vegetation indices taken by MODIS sensors. Also, the trend of changes in climatic parameters such as temperature and precipitation were used by Mann-Kendall test over 15 years (2006 – 2020). Finally, the correlation between vegetation and climatic parameters was examined. The result of 15-year changes in vegetation using two indicators of NDVI and EVI showed that the trend of vegetation in more than 59% of Kermanshah province has been decreasing. The trend of precipitation in more than 88% had decreased and the trend of temperature in the 98% area had increased. The correlation between vegetation obtained from NDVI and EVI indices with the climatic parameter showed a positive correlation between precipitation and vegetation and a negative correlation between temperature and vegetation in more than 80% and 59% of this province, respectively. The results of the correlation analysis of different land-uses showed that in the barren lands and shrub lands, the positive correlations between precipitation and vegetation were stronger than the negative correlation between temperature and vegetation. In contrast, in grasslands and savannahs, the relationship between vegetation and temperature was stronger than that for precipitation. According to the results of this study, the climate changes and human activities are effective in controlling the trend of vegetation in different areas, which can be well demonstrated using the information obtained from remote sensing data.