The Coupling Relationship between variations of NDVI and Change of aeolian sandy Land in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin of Tibet, China

Based on two NDVI datasets (Pathfinder AVHRR NDVI and SPOT VEGETATION NDVI) from 1982 to 2010 and four series of acolian sandy land data visually interpreted from the Landsat images of 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2008 with the aid of geographic infonnation system (GIS) technology, the coupling relationship between variations of NDVI and change of aeolian sandy land in the Yarlung Zangbo River basin of Tibet, China were analyzed using grey correlation analysis method. Thereafter, their coupling relationship with climate factors were discussed extracted from meteorological data collected from eight monitoring stations in or around the study area during the period of 1957-2007. Besides, the variation of NDVI in growing season in the basin was mainly affected by mean temperature and annual precipitation, while in non-growing season it was mainly affected by the expansion of aeolian sandy land.