The relationship between surface temperature and a spectral vegetation index of a tallgrass prairie: effects of burning and other landscape controls

Abstract

Sile-to-site variability in the relation between remotely-sensed surface temperatures (T ₅) and the normalized difference spectral vegetation index (NDVI) of a tallgrass prairie was investigated. The primary objective was to determine whether the proportion of burnt/unburnt area within a sub-scene affected the T₅-NDVI regression slope (SL), Regression analyses confirmed that burn treatments, particularly on steep slopes, were responsible for most of the observed variability in SL while soil moisture content and the forested areas also had a significant effect on SL.