Samykannu et al. (2026) Seasonal NDVI shifts: Assessing vegetation responses to hydro-climatic changes across diverse agro-climatic zones of India

Identification

• Journal: Remote Sensing Applications Society and Environment
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-01
• Authors: Sheshakumar Goroshi, A. P. Ramaraj, DS. Pai, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rsase.2026.101882

Research Groups

India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences

Short Summary

This study analyzed four decades (1982–2022) of seasonal vegetation dynamics across India's agro-climatic zones, revealing significant greening trends (NDVI increasing from 0.49 to 0.57 in Kharif and 0.41 to 0.51 in Rabi) primarily driven by soil moisture and evapotranspiration, indicating enhanced water availability and improved agricultural management.

Objective

• To examine seasonal and inter-annual vegetation dynamics (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI) and their relationships with key hydro-climatic variables (soil moisture, evapotranspiration, rainfall, and vapor pressure deficit) across diverse agro-climatic zones of India during the Kharif and Rabi seasons over four decades.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Diverse agro-climatic zones (ACZs) of India.
• Temporal Scale: Four decades (1982–2022), covering Kharif (monsoon) and Rabi (post-monsoon) seasons.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Linear regression, Mann-Kendall analyses.
• Data sources: Global Inventory Monitoring and Modeling Studies (GIMMS) NDVI3g dataset, and hydro-climatic variables (soil moisture, evapotranspiration, rainfall, vapor pressure deficit).

Main Results

• Significant greening trends were observed across India's agro-climatic zones.
• NDVI increased from 0.49 to 0.57 during the Kharif season.
• NDVI increased from 0.41 to 0.51 during the Rabi season.
• The strongest positive greening trends occurred in the Lower and Trans-Gangetic Plains.
• Localized declines in NDVI were observed in the Island Region.
• Soil moisture and evapotranspiration were identified as the dominant controls on vegetation productivity.
• Findings indicate enhanced water availability and improved agricultural management practices.

Contributions

• Integrates long-term hydro-climatic drivers with an agro-climatic perspective, distinguishing it from earlier NDVI studies.
• Provides new evidence that seasonal NDVI is a sensitive indicator of crop-level resilience to climate variability.
• Offers insights that support region-specific irrigation planning and adaptive strategies for sustainable agricultural development.

Funding

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Samykannu2026Seasonal,
  author = {Samykannu, Venkadesh and Goroshi, Sheshakumar and Ramaraj, A. P. and Pai, DS. and Mohapatra, Mrutyunjay},
  title = {Seasonal NDVI shifts: Assessing vegetation responses to hydro-climatic changes across diverse agro-climatic zones of India},
  journal = {Remote Sensing Applications Society and Environment},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.rsase.2026.101882},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2026.101882}
}