African Vegetation (July 1984 vs July 1994)

  • Credit

    NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

African Vegetation: Comparing July 1984 and July 1994

For many years, scientists have believed that the southern expansion of the Sahara has been due to human activity. However, results from the AVHRR instrument and its measurements of vegetation suggest a different explanation: rainfall patterns. In drier years (1984 was one of the driest summers in recorded history in Northern Africa), the Sahara expands south, but in wetter years (such as 1994), vegetation moves back and there is no net expansion of the Sahara as had been previously suggested.

NDVI measures of African continent, July 1984

Metadata

  • Sensor

  • Animation ID

    589

  • Video ID

    SVS1999-0008

  • Start Timecode

    0:59:58:00

  • End Timecode

    1:00:30:04

  • Animator

    Jesse Allen

  • Studio

    SVS

  • Visualization Date

    1999/01/01

  • Scientist

    Compton Tucker (NASA/GSFC), Sharon Nicholson (Florida State University)

  • Keywords

    Sahara, GCMD--Location--Africa

  • DLESE Subject

    Physical geography, Climatology

  • Data Date

    1984/07, 1994/07

  • Story URL

    stories/NDVI/africa_july8494.html

  • Animation Type

    Regular