{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T03:48:36Z","timestamp":1760240916503,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"20","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,15]],"date-time":"2019-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1571097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004020","name":"Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PI#102"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PI#102"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004020","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"JDS, JICA","award":["B0012017MNG006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B0012017MNG006"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Mongolian steppe is one of the largest and important ecosystems. The degradation of grassland and the expansion of desert are occurring due to drought and desertification processes. We attempted monitoring of the broad-scale vegetation in Mongolia by a space-borne precipitation radar, which may complement typical approaches of vegetation monitoring (such as NDVI). We utilized the Global Precipitation Mission\u2019s (GPM) dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR). We characterized backscatter (\u03c30) of GPM\/DPR\u2019s two microwave bands (Ku and Ka) with respect to the dominant vegetation zones (forest, grassland, desert). Both Ku and Ka radars\u2019 \u03c30 values were investigated for incidence angle dependency and the seasonal variation. As a result, the use of multi-angle, multi-band observations of GPM\/DPR could help to characterize the vegetation zones. Especially, the \u03c30 at incidence angles between 1\u00b0 and 8\u00b0 represented useful characteristics of vegetation. Based on it, by using unsupervised clustering, we produced annual maps describing vegetation zones from 2014 to 2018. The result indicated that Mongolia experienced extensive changes in grassland and desert areas during the study years.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11202386","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,16]],"date-time":"2019-10-16T03:32:54Z","timestamp":1571196774000},"page":"2386","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Vegetation Mapping by Using GPM\/DPR over the Mongolian Land"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Baasankhuu","family":"Nyamsuren","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan"},{"name":"Information and Research Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology, and Environment (IRIMHE), Juulchiny street-5, Ulaanbaatar 15160, Mongolia"}]},{"given":"Kenlo Nishida","family":"Nasahara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan"},{"name":"Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0282-1075","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Takuji","family":"Kubota","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Earth Observation Research Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sengen 2-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8505, Japan"}]},{"given":"Takeshi","family":"Masaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC), Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1093\/jpe\/rtm005","article-title":"Remote sensing imagery in vegetation mapping: A review","volume":"1","author":"Xie","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. 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