Analyzing phenological characteristics of Mexico with MODIS time series products

Abstract

Mexico exposes a wide variety of ecosystems ranging from the arid northern interior to lush deciduous and evergreen tropical forests. This North-South gradient is modified by significant changes in elevation. In addition, the northern part of the Peninsula of Baja California belongs to the Mediterranean climate with winter-rain, while the remaining country receives its precipitation during the summer or all year long. These marked gradients in turn provide a unique opportunity for phenological analysis using time series of satellite remote sensing data. The aim of this study is twofold: (1) to characterize the phenology of different ecosystems in Mexico using eight years of time series of remote sensing data and (2) to evaluate the potential of different vegetation index time series and the impact of data processing techniques on the result. The dataset employed for analysis is the MODIS vegetation index product with 1km spatial resolution and a compositing interval of 16 days (MOD13A2, Huete et al. 2002). Both, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) will be analyzed.