Research on Vegetation Cover Changes in Arid and Semi-Arid Region Based on a Spatio-Temporal Fusion Model

Vegetation dynamics in arid and semi-arid regions have an important impact on carbon cycle, water cycle, and energy exchange at local, regional, and global scales. Therefore, it is of great significance for scientists to grasp the changes of vegetation cover in arid and semi-arid regions timely and accurately. Based on this, the applicability of ESTARFM model in the complex terrain area of arid and semi-arid Xinjiang was explored using Landsat and MODIS data fusion, and the overall change characteristics of vegetation cover (FVC) and the distribution and change patterns of different terrains in the study area in the past 15 years were analyzed by combining the dimidiate pixel model, unary linear regression and digital elevation model. The results show that: (1) the NDVI data fused by ESTARFM Model has high consistency with the real NDVI data, and it can be used for subsequent FVC estimation. (2) From 2006 to 2020, the inter FVC was at a high level as a whole, and the average annual FVC showed a weak increasing trend in fluctuation; there are obvious differences in spatial distribution, which is characterized by high distribution in the north and low in the south. (3) The improved area of vegetation cover in the study area is greater than the degraded area, accounting for 52.3% and 47.7% respectively; (4) In the elevation range of 2000 to 3500 m, the FVC showed a slight degradation trend on 25° to 45° slopes and south and southeast slopes, and the rest showed a slight improvement trend. ESTARFM-based model enables monitoring of vegetation cover changes in complex terrain areas of the arid and semi-arid regions in Xinjiang over a long time series. The overall FVC level in the study area is high, and there both are serious degradation and improvement phenomena.