Landscape Approach to the Modeling of Land-Cover Dynamics with Remote Methods

摘要

The article discusses remote methods for the description of the intraseasonal dynamics of soil and vegetation moisture. The field moisture content of the soil and vegetation cover is described by an integral indicator that takes into account the moisture content of the upper soil horizon (5-10 cm), grass phytomass, and leaves of trees and shrubs. The integrated field moisture demonstrates a reliable association with the normalized differential water index (NDWI); the determination coefficient R-2 reaches values of 0.91 for individual classes of tracts. The most significant factors determining the loss of moisture during the summer period are the amount of photosynthetically active phytomass, the potential influx of solar radiation during the study period, and the moisture reserve in the soil and vegetation at the beginning of the growing season. These factors describe 67% of the NDWI difference between May and August 2016 in forest areas and 89% in the steppes. The results can be used to search for fire hazardous areas in the steppes and forests, as well as for the monitoring of vineyards.