NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX IN “VERTICAL” ANALYSIS OF THE GRASSLANDS

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7408-03-4 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 23, 625-632 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/23/S11.078

ABSTRACT

The relief, as genetic factor and „support” on which the grassland areas are engrafted on, may be equally considered the major decisive element for vegetation’s type, aspect and consistency, through altitude, slope and orientation. This study will highlight the influence exerted on grassland areas by relief factors, in mountain and sub-mountain regions, and subsequently it will determine the differentiated landscaping „norms” in concordance with the singularity of each analyzed sector. The grassland assessment will rely on the calculation of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). According to the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and also to the observations and measurements in field, we will determine the altitude intervals and the characteristic parametres, achieving a NDVI value flooring.The values obtained will be quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed with Geographical Informatic Systems (GIS) and remote sensing techniques, to capture the changes that occur with changing environmental conditions. Since the researches are carried out in mountainous and hills regions, grasslands, as non-homogenous spatial entities, may present significant differences and therefore it is important to respect their defining elements, during landscaping and exploitation, in concordance with the physical-geographical particularities of each subarea.

Keywords: evaluation index, remote sensing, spatial planning