Extended Abstract

Analyzing Long-Term Drought Effects on Land Surface Temperature and Vegetation Using National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Satellite’s Data

Team Members: Cornelius Holness, Derek Morris, Daquan Rascoe, Andrew Brumfield (Mentor)

Keywords: Land Surface Temperature,TeraScan,Vegetation,TeraScan,TeraVision, USGS

Abstract
Analyzing the effects of Drought in the Northeastern North Carolina area with NOAA satellite products to determine a correlation between Land Surface Temperature and Vegetation. The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) data sets for summer 2002 -2013, provided by the State Climate Office of North Carolina NC CRONOS database, provided evidence that since 2007 the northern coastal plain of North Carolina has been experiencing a long-term summer drought. Summer is defined as the months between late June to late September.

Utilizing Elizabeth City State University’s (ECSU) 1.5m L-band SeaSpace ground station the team received live Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery from NOAA polar orbiting satellites each day for the month of June. The primary goal of this research was to observe the correlation between land surface temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) due to long-term drought using NOAA satellite data. In the month of June 2016, the team collected imagery data through the SeaSpace© TeraScan® system and produced LST and NDVI. Various GPS locations were selected in Northeastern North Carolina of different biomes such as swamp lands, grasslands, and farmlands. The team collected and utilized data in the areas of Camden County, Gates County, Pasquotank County, and Perquimans County. Using the SeaSpace Graphical User Interface (GUI) Teravision®, The data points of each product at the various biome locations were analyzed for daily and weekly averages.

Using the GPS locations found in United States Geological Survey (USGS) of the swamps lands, grasslands, and farmlands were entered and saved as survey points in TeraVision’s GUI. All of the passes in the month of June that were received and processed into LST and NDVI products at the direct broadcast ground station at ECSU were loaded into TeraVision. The values were then extracted from each of the points and evaluated by their biome specific location for LST and NDVI. With Excel the team conducted analysis for daily trends, regional trends, biome trends, and weekly trends.