Preliminary observations on the AVHRR-VIIRS v5 daily NDVI data for the assessment of vegetation-climate dynamics in the Jubba-Shabelle watershed of East Africa#
Team “Saurophaganax_Popping_forte”
Jesús Pozo, Andrea Miranda, Sergei Nabatov, Alethia Kielbasa, Abdus Samad, Benedetta Francesconi
Mentor: Surajit Deb Barma
This study underscores the profound influence of climate on terrestrial ecosystems, especially in East Africa, where the economy remains heavily dependent on natural resource exploitation. The crucial role of rain-dependent farming in sustaining the livelihoods of Africa's majority population accentuates the importance of understanding land-atmosphere interactions. The Juba-Shabelle basin, shared by Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, is the eye of years of international water conflicts. With recent NDVI data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from the AVHRR and VIIRS satellite sensors we illustrate 30 years of changes from 1991 to 2020. We noticed effects of El Niño events, a substantial change in the outputs of both sensors, a climatology of cloud activity in terms of missing values, and the influence of the latter in the regional NDVI computation. To bring sustainable solutions to the decision-makers, the land-atmosphere system of vulnerable regions needs to be studied in precise terms by data that is understood in its intricacies and opportunities.
The full micropublication will be shared here at the end of March 2024.