{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,3]],"date-time":"2025-11-03T04:46:26Z","timestamp":1762145186065,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,4,27]],"date-time":"2016-04-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1461715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"the National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["U1130301"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U1130301"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"the Major National Scientific Research Program of China","award":["2014CB954202"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2014CB954202"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Previous studies have concluded that the increase in vegetation in the arid northwest of China is related to precipitation rather than temperature. However, these studies neglected the effects of climate warming on water availability that arise through changes in the melting characteristics of this snowy and glaciated region. Here, we characterized vegetation changes using the newly improved third-generation Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GIMMS-3g NDVI) from 1982 to 2011. We analyzed the temperature and precipitation trends based on data from 51 meteorological stations across Northwest China and investigated changes in the glaciers using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data. Our results indicated an increasing trend in vegetation greenness in Northwest China, and this increasing trend was mostly associated with increasing winter precipitation and summer temperature. We found that the mean annual temperature increased at a rate of 0.04 \u00b0C per year over the past 30 years, which induced rapid glacial melting. The total water storage measured by GRACE decreased by up to 8 mm yr\u22121 and primarily corresponded to the disappearance of glaciers. Considering the absence of any observed increase in precipitation in the growing season, the vegetation growth may have benefited from the melting of glaciers in high-elevation mountains (i.e., the Tianshan Mountains). Multiple regression analysis showed that temperature was positively correlated with NDVI and that gravity was negatively correlated with NDVI; together, these variables explained 84% of the NDVI variation. Our findings suggest that both winter precipitation and warming-induced glacial melting increased water availability to the arid vegetation in this region, resulting in enhanced greenness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8050364","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,4,27]],"date-time":"2016-04-27T12:22:05Z","timestamp":1461759725000},"page":"364","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":41,"title":["Impact of Climate Change on Vegetation Growth in Arid Northwest of China from 1982 to 2011"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Rong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of the Yangtze River Estuary, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zu-Tao","family":"Ouyang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Center for Global Change &amp; Earth Observations, Michigan State University 218 Manly Miles Building, 1405 S. Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiao","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of the Yangtze River Estuary, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hai-Qiang","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of the Yangtze River Estuary, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dun-Yan","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources and Ecology and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Western Arid Region Grassland Resources and Ecology, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, \u00dcr\u00fcmqi 830052, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0956-7428","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiang-Ming","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of the Yangtze River Estuary, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China"},{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, Center for Spatial Analysis, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8183-0297","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jia-Guo","family":"Qi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Center for Global Change &amp; Earth Observations, Michigan State University 218 Manly Miles Building, 1405 S. Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3530-2469","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bin","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of the Yangtze River Estuary, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,4,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1007\/s10584-008-9475-0","article-title":"Precipitation drives interannual variation in summer soil respiration in a Mediterranean-climate, mixed-conifer forest","volume":"92","author":"Concilio","year":"2009","journal-title":"Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"L21411","DOI":"10.1029\/2005GL024231","article-title":"Precipitation patterns alter growth of temperate vegetation","volume":"32","author":"Fang","year":"2005","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1007\/s00442-008-1116-9","article-title":"Increasing precipitation event size increases aboveground net primary productivity in a semi-arid grassland","volume":"158","author":"Knapp","year":"2008","journal-title":"Oecologia"},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"282","article-title":"Plant responses to precipitation in desert ecosystems: Integrating functional types, pulses, thresholds, and delays","volume":"141","author":"Ogle","year":"2004","journal-title":"Ecosystems"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1505","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2486.2010.02363.x","article-title":"Effect of precipitation variability on net primary production and soil respiration in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland","volume":"17","author":"Thomey","year":"2011","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Houghton, J.T., Ding, Y., Griggs, D.J., Noguer, M., van der Linden, P.J., Dai, X., Maskell, K., and Johnson, C.A. (2001). Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"419","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1010673212131","article-title":"Climate change in China from 1880 to 1998 and it\u2019s impact on the environmental condition","volume":"50","author":"Qian","year":"2001","journal-title":"Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1038\/nature09364","article-title":"The impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in China","volume":"467","author":"Piao","year":"2010","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"946","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaridenv.2011.05.007","article-title":"Changing climate affects vegetation growth in the arid region of the northwestern China","volume":"75","author":"Zhao","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Arid Environ."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108","DOI":"10.1016\/j.quaint.2013.08.032","article-title":"Climate change and the ecological responses in Xinjiang, China: Model simulations and data analyses","volume":"311","author":"Fang","year":"2013","journal-title":"Quat. Int."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1007\/s10584-006-9121-7","article-title":"Recent and future climate change in Northwest China","volume":"80","author":"Shi","year":"2007","journal-title":"Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2246","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2486.2012.02687.x","article-title":"Sensitivity of mean annual primary production to precipitation","volume":"18","author":"Hsu","year":"2012","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"Li, Z., Yan, F., and Fan, X. (2003, January 21\u201325). The variability of NDVI over northwest China and its relation to temperature and precipitation. Proceedings of 2003 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS '03, Beijing, China."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1006\/jare.2000.0755","article-title":"Analysis of a 30-year rainfall record (1967\u20131997) in semi-arid SE Spain for implications on vegetation","volume":"48","author":"Rodrigo","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Arid Environ."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2345","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160210154812","article-title":"Temporal responses of NDVI to precipitation and temperature in the central Great Plains, USA","volume":"24","author":"Wang","year":"2003","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0030-1299.2007.15327.x","article-title":"Contrasting relationships between precipitation and species richness in space and time","volume":"116","author":"Adler","year":"2007","journal-title":"Oikos"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3624","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.12010","article-title":"Spatial variations in aboveground net primary productivity along a climate gradient in Eurasian temperate grassland: Effects of mean annual precipitation and its seasonal distribution","volume":"18","author":"Guo","year":"2012","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"953","DOI":"10.1890\/0012-9658(1997)078[0953:AEFNFT]2.0.CO;2","article-title":"ANPP estimates from NDVI for the central grassland region of the United States","volume":"78","author":"Paruelo","year":"1997","journal-title":"Ecology"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2315","DOI":"10.1002\/(SICI)1099-1085(199910)13:14\/15<2315::AID-HYP888>3.0.CO;2-A","article-title":"Long-term experimental manipulation of winter snow regime and summer temperature in arctic and alpine tundra","volume":"13","author":"Walker","year":"1999","journal-title":"Hydrol. Process."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1029\/2005GL024286","article-title":"The impact of snow depth and snowmelt on the vegetation variability over central Siberia","volume":"32","author":"Grippa","year":"2005","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1007\/s10584-009-9546-x","article-title":"Winter climate change in alpine tundra: Plant responses to changes in snow depth and snowmelt timing","volume":"94","author":"Wipf","year":"2009","journal-title":"Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3065","DOI":"10.1002\/hyp.1089","article-title":"Variability and trends in the annual snow-cover cycle in Northern Hemisphere land areas, 1972\u20132000","volume":"16","author":"Dye","year":"2002","journal-title":"Hydrol. Process."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1006\/bioe.2001.0013","article-title":"Climate change and water resources management in arid and semi-arid regions: Prospective and challenges for the 21st century","volume":"81","author":"Ragab","year":"2002","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4545","DOI":"10.1175\/JCLI3538.1","article-title":"Effects of temperature and precipitation variability on snowpack trends in the Western United States","volume":"18","author":"Hamlet","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Clim."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3743","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.12610","article-title":"Unexpected role of winter precipitation in determining heat requirement for spring vegetation green-up at northern middle and high latitudes","volume":"20","author":"Fu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"303","DOI":"10.1038\/nature04141","article-title":"Potential impacts of a warming climate on water availability in snow-dominated regions","volume":"438","author":"Barnett","year":"2005","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1240","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1014425108","article-title":"Spring temperature change and its implication in the change of vegetation growth in North America from 1982 to 2006","volume":"108","author":"Wang","year":"2011","journal-title":"PNAS"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"514","DOI":"10.1038\/nature10847","article-title":"Recent contributions of glaciers and ice caps to sea level rise","volume":"482","author":"Jacob","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1382","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1183188","article-title":"Climate change will affect the Asian water towers","volume":"328","author":"Immerzeel","year":"2010","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"117","article-title":"Glacier changes since the Little Ice Age maximum in the western Qilian Shan, northwest China, and consequences of glacier runoff for water supply","volume":"49","author":"Liu","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Glasiol."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.3189\/172756406781812168","article-title":"Glacier retreat as a result of climate warming and increased precipitation in the Tarim river basin, northwest China","volume":"43","author":"Liu","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ann. Glaciol."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1497","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2007.05.016","article-title":"Evaluation of MODIS snow cover and cloud mask and its application in Northern Xinjiang, China","volume":"112","author":"Wang","year":"2007","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1065","DOI":"10.1360\/03yd0256","article-title":"Recent glacial retreat in High Asia in China and its impact on water resource in Northwest China","volume":"47","author":"Yao","year":"2004","journal-title":"Sci. China Ser. D"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-2486.2003.00507.x","article-title":"Northern hemisphere photosynthetic trends 1982 \u00b1 99","volume":"9","author":"Slayback","year":"2003","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4485","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160500168686","article-title":"An extended AVHRR 8-km NDVI dataset compatible with MODIS and SPOT vegetation NDVI data","volume":"26","author":"Tucker","year":"2005","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3147","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.12647","article-title":"Vegetation productivity patterns at high northern latitudes: A multi-sensor satellite data assessment","volume":"20","author":"Guay","year":"2014","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"927","DOI":"10.3390\/rs5020927","article-title":"Global Data Sets of Vegetation Leaf Area Index (LAI)3g and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR)3g Derived from Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI3g) for the Period 1981 to 2011","volume":"5","author":"Zhu","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3446","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6043446","article-title":"Rain-Use-Efficiency: What it Tells us about the Conflicting Sahel Greening and Sahelian Paradox","volume":"6","author":"Dardel","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"W01413","DOI":"10.1029\/2007WR006057","article-title":"Estimating profile soil moisture and groundwater variations using GRACE and Oklahoma Mesonet soil moisture data","volume":"44","author":"Swenson","year":"2008","journal-title":"Water Resour. Res."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2009.03.008","article-title":"Monitoring the water balance of Lake Victoria, East Africa, from space","volume":"370","author":"Swenson","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Landerer, F.W., and Swenson, S.C. (2012). Accuracy of scaled GRACE terrestrial water storage estimates. Water Resour. Res., 48.","DOI":"10.1029\/2011WR011453"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Swenson, S., and Wahr, J. (2006). Post-processing removal of correlated errors in GRACE data. Geophys. Res. Lett., 33.","DOI":"10.1029\/2005GL025285"},{"key":"ref_43","unstructured":"GRACE Tellus, Available online: http:\/\/grace.jpl.nasa.gov\/data\/get-data\/monthly-mass-grids-land\/."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01117450","article-title":"Application of Akaike\u2019s Information Criterion (AIC) in the evaluation of linear pharmacokinetic equations","volume":"6","author":"Yamaoka","year":"1978","journal-title":"J. Pharmacokinet. Biopharm"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1007\/s00265-010-1037-6","article-title":"A brief guide to model selection, multimodel inference and model averaging in behavioural ecology using Akaike\u2019s information criterion","volume":"65","author":"Symonds","year":"2011","journal-title":"Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecoleng.2005.10.015","article-title":"Ecological effects of desertification control and desertified land reclamation in an oasis-desert ecotone in an arid region: A case study in Hexi Corridor, northwest China","volume":"29","author":"Su","year":"2007","journal-title":"Ecol. Eng."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"639","DOI":"10.1007\/s00254-003-0808-z","article-title":"Environmental changes of oases at southern margin of Tarim Basin, China","volume":"44","author":"Zu","year":"2003","journal-title":"Environ. Geol."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1007\/s11442-014-1082-6","article-title":"Spatiotemporal characteristics, patterns, and causes of land-use changes in China since the late 1980s","volume":"24","author":"Liu","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Geogr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3004","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2486.2010.02210.x","article-title":"Change in winter snow depth and its impacts on vegetation in China","volume":"16","author":"Peng","year":"2010","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"646","DOI":"10.1175\/1525-7541(2002)003<0646:WPPIAA>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Winter precipitation patterns in Arctic Alaska Determined from a blowing-snow model and snow-depth observations","volume":"3","author":"Liston","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Hydrometeorol."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"217","DOI":"10.1016\/j.soilbio.2003.09.008","article-title":"Increased snow depth affects microbial activity and nitrogen mineralization in two Arctic tundra","volume":"36","author":"Schimel","year":"2003","journal-title":"Soil Biol. Biochem."},{"key":"ref_52","unstructured":"Heinrich, W., and Mueller-Dombois, D. (1971). Ecology of Tropical and Subtropical Vegetation, Oliver & Boyd."},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"509","DOI":"10.1007\/s10265-009-0302-0","article-title":"Climate change alters interannual variation of grassland aboveground productivity: Evidence from a 22-year measurement series in the Inner Mongolian grassland","volume":"123","author":"Ma","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Plant Res."},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"044027","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/6\/4\/044027","article-title":"Recent change of vegetation growth trend in China","volume":"6","author":"Peng","year":"2011","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/8\/5\/364\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T19:22:56Z","timestamp":1760210576000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/8\/5\/364"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,4,27]]},"references-count":54,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,5]]}},"alternative-id":["rs8050364"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs8050364","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2072-4292"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,4,27]]}}}