Spatiotemporal variation of the vegetation coverage in Qinghai Plateau based on MODIS NDVI data

The spatiotemporal variation of vegetation coverage and its driving factor in Qinghai plateau from 2000 to 2014 were analyzed and studied based on MVC,SG filter,Mann- Kendall test methods and MODIS NDVI data. The results showed that the vegetation coverage distribution was diminished from southeast to northwest result from water resource and topography. The vegetation growing period had a big differentiation with the different altitude,and the altitude less than 2000 meters called Hehuang Valley had the longest period. The temperature and precipitation were the important driving factors for seasonal variation of vegetation cover. The prominent decreasing regions accounting for 11. 3% of the area mainly distributed on the middle Qaidam basin and northeast,and the prominent increasing accounting for 32. 1% mainly distributed on mid- east,Qinghai Lake and mid- south of the plateau. The research also indicated that the increasing of precipitation and human activities were significantly improved the vegetation coverage of Qinghai plateau.