Changes in Onset of Vegetation Growth on Svalbard, 2000–2020

The global temperature is increasing, and this is affecting the vegetation phenology in many parts of the world. The most prominent changes occur at northern latitudes such as our study area, which is Svalbard, located between 76°30′N and 80°50′N. A cloud-free time series of MODIS-NDVI data was processed. The dataset was interpolated to daily data during the 2000–2020 period with a 231.65 m pixel resolution. The onset of vegetation growth was mapped with a NDVI threshold method which corresponds well with a recent Sentinel-2 NDVI-based mapping of the onset of vegetation growth, which was in turn validated by a network of in-situ phenological data from time lapse cameras. The results show th…