The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is a measure of greenness. NDVI was calculated as: NDVI = (NIR - R) / (NIR + R), where NIR is the spectral reflectance in the...

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data were obtained from the USGS Global AVHRR 10-day composite data (http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/1KM/1kmhomepage.asp) (Markon et al....