Geospatial assessment and monitoring of historical forest cover changes (1920-2012) in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India.

Deforestation in the biosphere reserves, which are key Protected Areas has negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, carbon fluxes and livelihoods. Comprehensive study of deforestation in biosphere reserves is required to assess the impact of the management effectiveness. This article assesses the changes in forest cover in various zones and protected areas of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first declared biosphere reserve in India which forms part of Western Ghats-a global biodiversity hotspot.

Geo-spatial analysis of the temporal trends of kharif crop phenology metrics over India and its relationships with rainfall parameters.

The Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies bimonthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data of 8 × 8 km spatial resolution for the period of 1982-2006 were analyzed to detect the trends of crop phenology metrics (start of the growing season (SGS), seasonal NDVI amplitude (AMP), seasonally integrated NDVI (SiNDVI)) during kharif season (June to October) and their relationships with the amount of rainfall and the number of rainy days over Indian subcontinent. Direction and magnitude of trends were analyzed at pixel level using the Mann-Kendall test and further assessed at meteorological subdivision level using field significance test (α = 0.1).

Decadal time-scale monitoring of forest fires in Similipal Biosphere Reserve, India using remote sensing and GIS.

Analyzing the spatial extent and distribution of forest fires is essential for sustainable forest resource management. There is no comprehensive data existing on forest fires on a regular basis in Biosphere Reserves of India. The present work have been carried out to locate and estimate the spatial extent of forest burnt areas using Resourcesat-1 data and fire frequency covering decadal fire events (2004-2013) in Similipal Biosphere Reserve.

Early-season agricultural drought: detection, assessment and monitoring using Shortwave Angle and Slope Index (SASI) data.

Early season or crop-planting-period (ES/CPP) drought conditions have become a recurrent phenomenon in tropical countries like India, due to fluctuations in the time of onset and progression of monsoon rains. ES/CPP agricultural drought assessment is a major challenge because of the difficulties in the generation of operational products on soil moisture at larger scales. The present study analyzed the Shortwave Angle Slope Index (SASI) derived from Near Infrared and Shortwave Infrared data of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, for tracking surface moisture changes and assessing the agricultural drought conditions during ES/CPP, over Andhra Pradesh state, India.

Assessment and monitoring of long-term forest cover changes in Odisha, India using remote sensing and GIS.

Deforestation and fragmentation are important concerns in managing and conserving tropical forests and have global significance. In the Indian context, in the last one century, the forests have undergone significant changes due to several policies undertaken by government as well as increased population pressure. The present study has brought out spatiotemporal changes in forest cover and variation in forest type in the state of Odisha (Orissa), India, during the last 75 years period.

Modelling Spatial and Temporal Forest Cover Change Patterns (1973-2020): A Case Study from South Western Ghats (India).

This study used time series remote sensing data from 1973, 1990 and 2004 to assess spatial forest cover change patterns in the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), South Western Ghats (India). Analysis of forest cover changes and its causes are the most challenging areas of landscape ecology, especially due to the absence of temporal ground data and comparable space platform based data. Comparing remotely sensed data from three different sources with sensors having different spatial and spectral resolution presented a technical challenge.