Dynamics of desert vegetation and its response to climate changes during 1982–2013 in the Hexi Corridor of Northwest China

We adopted and integrated GIMMS NDVI (1982–2006) and MODIS NDVI (2001–2013) to analyze desert vegetation dynamics and its response to climatic variations in the Hexi Corridor, Northwest China. We summarized the results as follows. (1) In this study, the desert vegetation mainly showed an improvement trend during the past thirty years, In the growth season, the maximum of NDVI increased with a rate of 0.65×10
⁻³
/a (P < 0.05), and it was significantly increased in the northwestern of the Hexi Corridor and lower reaches of different inland river basin. (2) Generally, the climate of this region showed a warm-wet pattern over the last three decades, and precipitation had significant effect on the growth of desert vegetation than temperature. (3) The relationship between NDVI and precipitation became weaker in the recent ten years, especially in the lower reaches of Shiyang river basin, may be due to human activities.